


A Purebloods Sin

by daelit



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Adventure, F/M, Horror, Multi, Oc based, Power hungry, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-30 09:47:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 48,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8528386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daelit/pseuds/daelit
Summary: Antonina Volkov, eldest daughter to a powerful pureblood family, born into a family tainted by madness she stands as a warrior with her friends at her side. As the war nears she must sacrifice her desires and adventurous spirit to protect those dear to her. Can she get through this war with the one she loves, or will she succumb to madness.(Future rating change, will get darker as story progresses, and more tags will be added)





	1. Stone

 

This chapter is a quick intro to the story, made to show how Nina was involved in the first book.

  •◆• = Time Skip.

  •¤• = Perspective change.

* * *

 

"Antonina, darling! Make sure you're fully packed. Your wand, your robes, comfy clothes, pajamas." Alik Volkov was having a fit over his daughter as she stuffs a dark brown leather trunk decorated with a large royal purple crest, sewn into the center of the trunk. The crest was a shield with two large wolves in their hind legs on either side, in the center of the shield was a large V, and surrounding the wolves and shield were twists and turns, swirls of purple, black and hints of silver.

"Father please!" Nina cried out in a playful exasperation, "I have everything, I only need to get to the station tomorrow morning and everything will be fine!" Nina said this as her father had made her unpack and repack several times now to make sure she was fully prepared.

"Well you don't have everything." Vasilisa says with a coo in her voice, Nina's mother walks in and stands next to her father with her arms behind her back, a large smile across her face.

"Yeah I do, I've told you a hundred times. I've packed and repacked so many times!" Her parents look at one another with a knowing smile.

"What about a messenger owl?" Her father says crossing his arms over his lean chest, his long rectangular shaped head seeming over zealous as his overly curly brown hair was slicked back and streaks of grey sprouted here and there as for his short beard had a full skunk stripe down the middle, while his bronzed skin showing no signs of aging. His amber eyes piercing like hot metal, and warm like a sunflower in the middle of summer.

"An owl? I will just use Avalon and Azurell." She says clasping the trunk closed.

"Well your father and I have been talking. And we decided, a young witch old enough to use magic and go to school. Should have her own owl!" Her mother says and pulls a cage from behind her, a barn owl with a white face with hints of toast like colours line it's beak and up around its eyes, it's chest a dark golden brown that matches the top of its wings, the wings mostly matched the chest in colour but had dark chocolate patches covering the top of the wing, while the feathers themselves had many varieties of burnt browns and light and a soft creamy colours, each feather having the standard black diamond shape on each feather.

"Of coarse we will have to have the under sides of his wings tinted with purple like the rest of our family owls, but he will be ready for your journey to school." Her father says clearing his throat proudly as Nina runs to her parents and hugs them tight.

"Thank you Thank you!" She cries and hugs her parents tight, just as she says this her younger sister runs in whining.

"Why don't I get an owl!" Katrina says stomping and screeching "Why does she ge to go to school and I don't!" Nina and Katrina were similar in looks, but they acted very different, Nina was very proper and kind, she respected and treasured everything she got from her parents, while Rina would enjoy it for a few moments and then throw a fit about what she doesn't have. Nina would be polite to everyone she met, while Rina was very picky about who she would even look at. Nina would do what was asked of her, while Rina would weasel her way out of everything and get one of their house elves to do it.

Nina and Rina did not see eye to eye very often, in fact they should hold a celebration for when they do get along, it's that rare. Nina rolled her eyes as her sister stomped her foot. Her mother takes her sister from the room, placing the bird upon the vanity in ge corner of her room, drawing supplies, music sheets, quills, and other things scatter the table as it is the most used surface in the room and therefore the messiest.

"So what are you gonna name him?" Her father says crouching next to Nina who now sat at the vanity examining the bird farther.

"Well, he looks very proper. But he also looks very tricky. Not a prince but a lord…. A baron! So his name will be Barron!" She says happily, opening the hatch to the golden cage. She shows no signs of aggression as the bird looks slightly discomforted, slowly she strokes the birds feathers and it tilts it's head in suspicion of her but soon he relaxes.

"The perfect name for the owl of such a talented young lady." Her father says rubbing her shoulder lovingly. "Remember to take Marvanian for a ride before you leave. He will be devastated if you don't say goodbye. You should go before the sun sets, and be back before dark!" Her father than leaves the room, Nina sits in the brightly lit room. Her room was decorated most elegantly, the walls were white with gold wood carvings of vines and leaves thst semetrically lined her walls, the drapes and bedding was made of a expensive material only avaliable to the most wealthy of wizards were able to purchase the fabric from the vain and blood status crazed craftsman. The tones of the drapes were a rich brown and antique white, while all the wood was either white, gold or matched the brown drapes. Her four poster bed was gigantic and placed directly across from the door and the dark wood was elegantly detailed with engravings and pillars.

Dressed in her grey pea coat and black leggings she fastens her riding boots, standing and looking in her full body mirror she frowns, pulling at her stomach and trying to shape her legs she becomes agitated, her body was round unlike her mother who was tall and thin but was well muscled, Nina's face was round while her mother's was what most called heart shaped. Her mother was beautiful and was well known for her beauty and voice among both Muggles and Wizards world wide. Nina wished to make her mother proud by gaining the _Romanov_ beauty. She had spent so much time growing out her hair that matched her mothers, it was long and full of loose ringlets and coloured in the most rare of way, it was a dark red that almost seemed brown but in the light it would flare with a almost unnatural cherry red, it was long and would trail behind her as she moved. Well at least it use to. A little over a year ago, a boy she had grown up with and use to be quite fond of had taken a pair of scissors to her hair.

It had been his birthday and her family had gone to celebrate, she sat at the table while their mothers stood outside the double doors with their backs turned, Nina had been swinging her feet that couldn't touch the floor, his father had fallen asleep leaning on his arm, exhausted from being woken so early by his son. She remembered hearing laughing from his two boys who were the sons of both fathers they had both met for the first time, their laughing got louder and as she turned to inspect the noise, the sound of scissors echoed through the room. He had cut her hair unevenly so it was just above her earlobe, due to the uneven cut she had to get it all the same length. Needless to say there was lots of screaming and loud angry parents, she hadn't seen the boy since and she honestly didn't mind, he took something important from her and gained her hatred. Now her hair hair hair had grown to her jaw and her bangs were straight across her forehead.

Soon Nina was skipping down the balcony that went over the drawing room and foyer, she skips all the way to the stairs where she runs down the right side of the imperial styled staircase, and she skips down the several halls until she is out the back door and running down the gravel path. Early crickets could be heard as the sun seemed to be going down quite rapidly, so she finally made it to the stables. Going straight to the back a bellow from a large stag echoes among the ruckus of the ten other pens were other creatures, who all became silent to their dominant. Marvanian was a Peryton, a large stag with great wings and antlers that gave him a majestic and powerful look, gaining respect from all the other creatures.

"Hey Mavi, are you ready to go for a ride?" She says happily as he stomps his hooves and flexes his great wings. His fur was soft and long, it was very heavy and thick upon his neck and breadst, were the fur tinted with white, grey blue and three thick navy blue stripes cross his rear, while his rear while his legs were pure white and vacant of hair until around the hoof where it had tuffs on the back over his ankles, his mighty wings matched the colour of his breast but faded to the same navy blue as his stripes while the underside was pure white. Placing the saddle upon his back she uses the step ladder to climb upon the back of the steed who greatly towered her in height. Slipping her feet into the stirrup she kicks and crys out, the great beast flexes his wings and begins at a fast sprint taking off into the sky as they exit the stables.

"Bye!" Nina hugs her father tightly from the door of the train, while her mother was catching up with a woman who's hair shone bright blonde amongst the crowd. The door shut and began down the tracks, she waves from the window and smiles brightly. Her parents had explained to her that going to school would be the most important part of her life, she would meet friends to last forever and she would also meet people who she would learn to get on their good side only to stay off their bad side. She would learn things to help her through her entire life, and she would be taught by the most powerful wizard of their time, Albus Dumbledore.

Nina had got on the train rather late, so she hadn't found a compartment yet, so now she was walking down the hall looking in each and each just as filled as the last. Finally she finds a compartment with two boys and one girl who seemed to be fixing one of the boys glasses.

"Hello, I'm Antonina Volkov. Do you mind if I sit here? All the others are filled." She says softly and the ginger sits up with wide eyes.

"Volkov?! You mean the pureblood family that owns the most magical creature reservation in all the world!" he says and she slowly nods. "Do you know my brother Charlie? He works for Alik Volkov, with the dragons in Romania." She lights up as she suddenly recognizes who this is.

"Ronald Weasley! Yes I know your brother, he spoke highly of you" She says smiling happily as green and brown eyes lock on her.

"I'm Hermione Granger." The girl says extending her hand and Nina takes it, shaking it firmly with a happy smile.

"Nice to meet you, are you excited for school?" She asks as she sits across from the girl.

"Yeah! I hope to be sorted into Gryffindor. I think my family would shame me if I didn't" Ron says with a worried look.

"My parents aren't worried about what house I am in, as long as I am doing my work and making friends." Nina says puffing her chest out and grinning proudly, a trait she received from her father. "What about you two?" Nina says looking at the nameless boy and bushy haired girl.

"Well I don't know too much about them" The boy with black hair says, his round glasses making his green eyes shine brilliantly, her eyes graze the rim of his glasses before she gasps loudly and points at his forehead.

"You're Harry Potter!"

"Soon, you'll find out that some Wizarding families are better than others." The sneer is seen clear by all who stand waiting for the older woman to return for them, his white blond hair like a beacon for all those around him. It wasn't like his attitude and cry for all to have eyes on him, he wasn't as she remembered. She remembered a boy who was intelligent and kind, a boy who she would butt heads with every now and then but mostly it was fond memories, of studies and trips with his parents while hers were busy with work. This boy now stood at the top of the stairs his eyes looking down and judging people he hadn't even tried to know.

"thanks but, I think I'll decide that for myself." Harry says shutting the boy with a pointed chin and nose, he opens his mouth to say something but she steps in front of Harry with narrowed eyes.

"Back down Malfoy" She says with an angered tone to match his, he looks taken back as their grey eyes meet. But the surprise lasts only a moment as his lips curl.

"Aw Ms Volkov, how brave of you to show up with hair as trashy as that." His teeth show as he feels he has cornered her.

"My hair only reflects the one who cut it, so you should be careful with your words." She says coldly and he goes to speak but the older woman returns.

"Follow me!" She commands and the group quickly follows.

Nina had stood there for quite some time before being called, since her name was at the end of the list since it started with V.

"Antonina Volkov" Nina made her way up the steps,

" _head high, back straight"_ her head repeated the lessons she learned to be a proper lady and seem powerful and unbreakable, being the last she felt hundreds of eyes on the back of her head. Slowly turning she sits and she feels pressure filling her body and making her feel heavy as the eyes weigh her down.

" _Ah, a Volkov and a Romanov. How interesting. Yes yes"_ The hat speaks in a low whisper that was loud in her ears. " _Brave, dedicated, complex, pristine, and…"_ He goes silent for a moment "GRYFFINDOR!" a smile crosses her face as the gryffindor table erupts with cheers as they welcome her with opens arms.

•◆•

The sun was bright on the castle grounds, the trees and grass were a green that one could only imagine in a fairytale. Following those in her year towards the school grounds, they were going to learn the basics of broom flying, Nina had never been the best flyer growing up but over the summer she had been practicing, she remembered Malfoy flying circles around her a few years ago as she tried desperately to move anywhere higher than a foot off the ground. She was determined to prove to him that she could do anything, she could even do better than him at something, even if he practiced every Thursday evening.

She keeps her head up and her sharp, slightly upturned nose was held high, she hadn't made many friends yet and Harry was with Ron and Hermione was unable to be found among the crowd.

"Hello, I'm Pansy. Pansy Parkinson. Pureblood" A slytherin girl approaches, her hair was short and styled to look like a perfect cut, almost like a wig. Her dark brown eyes blinking wickedly as her thin lips are pulled into an impish grin, her hand extended and slowly Nina takes the girls hand.

"I'm Antonina Volkov" Nina says softly as she looks around for one of her three friends to save her.

"We should be friends, even if we are in rivaling houses. Our families are apart of the Sacred twenty-eight so it's only natural for those with power." The girl speaks and Nina feels as if she is going to vomit, Nina didn't like those who thought power and blood status was the most important aspects to everything in the world.

"Yes, we'll if you will excuse me." Nina says coldly and skillfully slips through the crowd of red, green, yellow and blue.

"Why so fast to escape, Volkov?" Malfoys snide voice cuts through the air like butter and she keeps walking, she still hadn't forgiven him for cutting her hair. Perhaps part of the reason she despised him for it, was the fact she had to wear hats to hide her awful hair cut; Nina hated hats. She hears a grunt of irritation as she and everyone else ignores him with ease, she hears footsteps approaching her quickly and she turns around as her nose scrunches up in disgust as he stands in front of her, an expression of surprise masking his face as he didn't expect her to whip around so fast.

"Leave me be Malfoy" She snaps and he runs his hand over his slicked back towheaded hair grinning.

"Where is the fun in that" He says sneering.

"Now hold your dominant hand over the broom and on the count of three, say up. One! Two! Three" Madame Hooch commands and the first years in their two lines begin chanting up, both Harry and Malfoy immediately having their brooms shoot from the ground and into their waiting hand, Nina got it on her second call, gripping the shaft of the broom and beaming with excitement as she looks up to see Malfoy's proud face drop to disappointment as his chance for insult is ripped from him. But next thing she knew Madame Hooch was gone and Harry was chasing a remembrall Malfoy had thrown, Malfoy had successfully irritated Nina past the point of no return and it hadn't even been a month into school.

•◆•

Nina had seen a lot up to this point in her life but nothing she had seen had even come close in comparison, when it came to Hogwarts. Nina sits across from Ron and next to Harry, unlike most others who went straight for the candy that appeared before them, her plate was covered in garlic mashed potatoes with strips of steak patterned along the top, and to top it off is corn and gravy. Using her fork she eats happily as she and her friends share jokes between mouthfuls of delicious food, her eyes drift as she sees Malfoy beaming at his friends around him, his crooked teeth visible from three tables over where she sits, his eyes seem to drift and lock with hers as his face darkens menacingly and she dramatically rolls her eyes. Suddenly both their attention and that of everyone else in the hall, lock on the frantic Professor Quarrel as he stumbles down the hall at a rapid pace before he shouts over the whispers.

"TROLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!" He screams without a single stutter, " _a troll?: Trolls, mostly dangerous due to its immense strength, but what makes it worth avoiding is its small brain."_ Nina remembers her father telling her about how trolls are incredibly dim witted. Suddenly she and the rest of the room burst into screams of terror as they begin to head for the door

"Silence!"

"Harry this is a bad idea!" Nina says in a stern whisper as she walks fast next to the boys.

"Yes but Hermione needs our help!" Harry says quickly

"I'm sure she'll be-" as they turn the corner Nina spins around and shoves her friends back.

"I don't think the troll is in the dungeon anymore" Ron says with wide eyes. The three sprint into the girls bathroom where Hermione is screaming and the stalls are being destroyed.

"Hey! HEY YOU!" Nina screams while the three of them throw rubble at the large creature.

"Hey Pea Brain!" Ron shouts and hits the troll in the head, gaining his attention the three split up Nina grabs Hermione and pulls her under the sinks pulling her wand from her pocket, not exactly sure what she would do with the wand since she hadn't spent much time learning spells outside the curriculum.

Somehow between the four of them they managed not dying, not getting detention be they ended up getting fifteen house points for " _sheer dumb luck"_ as McGonagall put it.

•◆•

"Come on lazy bums! Get up! Get up!" Nina and Katrina were jumping on their parents bed, both yelling and trying to wake up their parents.

"Come on! It's Christmas!" Katrina yells and tries rolling her father back and forth. Her dad was being silly and pretending to roll over and fall asleep again.

"Come on Alik, let's get these girls downstairs. The sooner it's over the sooner we get to sleep." Her mother says softly and her father throws himself up roaring playfully, both Nina and Rina jump up screaming happily and running down the hall in their nightgowns as their father pretends to be a monster and chases them. The girls run down the stairs and through the foyer, down the hall and into the sunroom where Rilkey the house elf is opening the curtains to the wall covered in windows with a large bench set in front of the window, her father enters the large double doors vacant of a shirt as per usual when he lounged around the house, his hair wild and curly but he soon fixes it by sliding his fingers through it and pulling it back, Nina notices the faded red scar on his left forearm and the sinking feeling fills her stomach like normal when she saw it. Nina and Rina sit at the bottom of the large tree covered in moving decorations and Nina is soon taken over by delight if what could be under the tree in the elegantly wrapped presents of all colours and sizes.

The girls got many presents, Rina got more since most of it involved toys and such, while Nina got horseback riding equipment, clothes, books, drawing supplies and jewelry. They were making it very apparent that she was now growing up

"Daddy, does it hurt?" Rina says poking her father's arm and he smiles softly and picks her up and rests her on his lap while Nina sits with her mother on the love seat, the air seeming to become heavy.

"Sometimes, but having my family around distracts me from it" He says poking her nose. "But now we must eat! Because we have to get ready soon, we have friends awaiting our arrival!" Her father says standing and carrying her sister.

"Mother, who is waiting for us?" Nina says suspiciously as she stands and holds her mother's hand, heading for the dining room.

"Don't worry about that now, we will eat and get dressed and you will see." her mother says and after a grand breakfast the family goes their separate ways to get dressed, Nina pulls out her Christmas dress. The dark red velvety fabric designed to look like a ballgown with dark red sleeves that go to the middle of her arm, a large pale yellow bow wrapped around her waste and tied in the back, the pale yellow also msde peter pan styled collar and lace bell sleeves that start at her elbow, and finally a yellow choker tied around her throat with a red gem in the center. Her hair was brushed since she couldn't really do anything with its length, besides put a headband on.

"Come on girls! They're waiting!" Her father calls from the main floor, both she and her sister exit their rooms and run down the hall in their dresses, her sister dressed in a very poofy dark green dress, where the waist is high and starts under her arm pits and flares out with lots of layers, and her hair pulled up into a bun. The girls hurry down the stairs and their flats tap against the stone flooring of the foyer as her mother stands holding her father's arm, dressed in a brilliant yet simple form fitting gold dress with a black fur shoulder shawl, her father dressed in a sleek knee length black wizard robe with a high collar and dress pants with dress shoes. They were a couple to envy in all ways, Nina takes her mother's hand and her sister takes her father's, after all moment the feeling of being sucked through a hole and a loud snapping sound is heard and then they are standing at the large gates of a manor. The large manor was dark in colour and the windows were large, Nina frowns as the calls of white peacocks echo over the otherwise rather quiet grounds, her father opens the gate and Rina runs down the long path up to the manor, her sister banging on the door before her family even made it halfway down the path, a familiar skittish elf opens the door and Rina shoves her way past ye elf and disappears into the house dropping her coat on the floor. Running up to the door she helps up the elf.

"Are you alright Dobby?" She ask softly and he jumps up and shakes his head.

"Dobby is use to that way of treatment, Dobby is fine!" Nina frowns at the elves answer, Nina stands and picks up her sister's coat as her parents follow her into the foyer of the manor. Two large deerhounds run in barking loudly at Nina who look at the dogs as no threat, kneeling as her dress poofs up around her, she extends her hand and slowly the dogs approach and cease barking as they sniff her hand and then start wagging their tails, she scratches their necks and smiles brightly.

"Karma! Titan! Out!" a woman snaps from the top of the joined stairs, the dogs scurry from the room and Nina pushes herself onto her feet, the blond woman smiles and steps down the stairs raising her arms happily. "Alik, Vas! I'm so glad you could make it" She speaks and Nina's mother greets her old friend with a hug.

"How could we miss Christmas with the Malfoy Family." Her father says as Lucius walks in from the drawing room to her left.

"Ah Antonina, Draco is in the music room. I am sure your sister has already found him. You know the way" Narcissa says fondly as she rubs her shoulder and Nina smiles up at the woman. Nina always had an affection towards Narcissa, part of it may have been the fact she helped raise Nina, when her mother would be on a tour somewhere in the world and her father busy with work she would be sent to the Malfoy's, therefore Narcissa would have a chance to express her needs for a daughter with Nina, spoiling her with dresses and gems. Doing as he woman asked Nina turns to the east towards the music room, past Lucius and from the foyer into the drawing room and then into the music room, there she sees Draco pushing her sister away and then running up the stairs to the raised section of the room to where he books and desk sits. He looks frantic as her sister is hot on his heels and hugs him tight as he squirms in her grasp.

"Volkov get her off me!" He snaps and she crosses her arms and shakes her head.

"You're on your own _Malfoy"_ She says sitting on the grand piano bench in the corner, watching as he struggles and ends up falling over and trying to drag himself from her sister's grasp.

"Draco, get off the floor! What are you doing" Narcissa says walking in and seeing her son on the floor while Nina sees her mother and father red in face and trying not to laugh.

"Draco has been practicing his piano more recently, he has learned so many songs now!" Lucius says proudly as he rests his hand on his son's shoulder.

"Yes well Vasilisa has been teaching Nina how to sing higher notes, her pitch is perfect." Alik says grinning and Lucius's eye twitches.

"Yes, well Draco has perfected the leg-locker curse! Very advanced for a first year." Lucius replies and Nina rolls her eyes.

"Mother they are doing it again!" Nina calls down the hall and Vas walks in.

"What are they doing darling?" She asks looking between the two men.

"They are comparing us again" Draco replies with his ego shining bright but fed up tone accompanies it.

"Boys behave!" Narcissa says standing next to her mother with a smile on her face and the two men turn red with embarrassment, their fathers would often boast about she and Draco, always trying to one up the other and she and Draco use to enjoy their fathers fighting about who was the better child. They welcomed it until they did it every time they were around each other and they just wanted their fathers to calm down and go separate ways.

•◆•

"Is that? A dragon!" Hermione says in disbelief and Nina sits next to her with a bright smile on her face, her cheeks red as she examines the dragon with excitement.

"Hagrid this is illegal! But… look how sweet he is" Nina says with a high pitched voice as she scratches under the dragon's chin, Norbert makes a cooing sound that almost sounds like clicking. Nina had spent a fair amount of time nursing newborn dragons when her family took the trips to Romania, and in doing so she picked up a few tricks. "Ron, NO" She shouts as he touches the dragon's tail and it whips around and bites Ron and Nina sits back down from her standing position, frowning as he holds his hand and angrily looking at the newborn dragon.

Somehow Nina managed to avoid detention through the year and easily passes all her classes, tensions somehow managed to grow between Nina and Malfoy as they pick at one another over the smallest details, she would point out how overly greased his hair was while he would mention how awful her hair looked, she would point out how snobby he looked as his nose crinkled and he would point out how much of a hypocrite she was with her nose "Heald higher than the great oaf" in which he meant Hagrid.

The two would but heads even in he middle of class and depending on who's class it would be, either one or both would get points removed and sometimes even added.

No matter which angle she would look at it from, she didn't see an upside.

 


	2. Chamber

 This chapter is a summary of where Nina was in the second book.<br />  
The story truly starts in the next chapter.

 

* * *

 

Nina sits at the dining table, half asleep and half blacking out her father enraged as he and her mother stand at the door under the watch of the ministry raiders, Rina had fallen asleep and was held in her mother's arms as she looked fairly unhappy herself. The ministry had been cracking down on families with history in dark magic, a few nights ago Lucius Malfoy came to let off steam by yelling about it to her father who found it quite amusing, but now it was their family and Nina was exhausted. They had only just returned from their summer trip to check all the reserves around Europe, She had spent the entire day back, riding one of their muggle breed horses through the forest in their back yard, she had come into the hobby of mapping over the summer. When at a unicorn reserve she mapped half the pre made paths and even some off the trail areas like a cave she found with a hidden family of foxes. Now she was riding through her parents land and marking off areas she found, she left early in the morning and returned well after dark and she had found so much, she found a large meadow, a large hill made of jagged rocks with a waterfall that cascaded down into a large pool of water that streamed across their land, she found caves, giant trees, but her favorite part was she found a cliff at the edge of their land, it was high and the trees seemed to stop in a perfect line along the edge, but beyond was land as far as the eye could see, the horizon directly in the center of the sun and moon and she had lost herself there.

Being brought from her tired train of thought she hears loud banging echo through the house and a man with bright red hair walks behind Nina and rubs her shoulder before sitting next to her.

"You must be Antonina, my boys have talked about you quite a bit over the summer." He says smiling gently and her glassy and unfocused eyes turn and examine his face. "I'm Mr Weasley, Fred, George and Ron's father" He says softly and smiles at her and her face lights up.

"Oh! Hello. It's nice to meet you" She shakes sitting up and smiling at him.

"You know, your mother and I use to know each other quite well. I believe I have in fact met you once or twice before, but you were only a newborn." He says smiling and sighing before standing. "You should head to bed, we are done here and you start school soon so get your sleep. You're gonna need it, my boys are getting more reckless by the day." He says softly and she nods before stumbling to bed, her mind not really focusing so her body takes the route it knows by heart and soon she is face down in her bed.

•◆•

Nina had gone with the Weasley's to get her school supplies and she was very annoyed as she stood in Flourish and Blots. "UGH, how can you like this guy! He is a fake, in his first book he said he defeated a four armed Weadle by cutting off its head! Everyone knows it only dies if you set it in fire!" Nina was being very animated as she watched Hermione, Ginny and Molly Weasley all become frantic to get to the he front of the line to have their books signed, while Fred and George look at eachother wondering what exactly was a Four armed Weadle was. Nina stands with them at the front of the store which was mostly empty except for a few people who actually wanted to buy books, Harry was being praised for his popularity by Lockhart himself. Nina hadn't noticed anyone else in the store as she talks bitterly about their poor excuse for a defense against the dark arts teacher, but soon Harry and Ron meet Nina at the front of the store. Her attention is caught by the sound of paper being ripped, a very blonde boy makes his way down the stairs quickly to face Harry.

"I bet you loved that! Didn't you Potter!" Nina noticed how much he had grown, he was in fact older than most people in their year since his birthday was during the summer but unlike Harry he was born a year sooner. "Famous Harry Potter! Can't even go into a book shop without making the front page!" Malfoy says with his lips curled back as his eyes drift over the group of friends who are their to back up Harry.

"Leave him alone!" Ginny, the youngest and only girl from the Weasley family steps forward.

"Look Potter! You've got yourself a girlfriend!" He says grinning as he has found a new way to tease Harry, but Lucius Malfoy steps in and hits Malfoy on the arm in disappointment, while Draco seems to change in personality he looked, scared?

"Now now Draco. Play nicely!" He moves his son to to the side and steps towards Harry. "Ah, Mr Potter… Lucius Malfoy, we meet at last" The man says and Nina shrinks back, not wishing to be noticed, but sadly he looks right at her and frowns.

•◆•

"In order to tr- In order to train their new seeker." Wood reads off the note Professor Snape had so kindly written for the slytherin team. "You have a new seeker? Who is it" Oliver Wood seemed fed up with the other team already as his shoulders drop and annoyance is clear in his voice. And as he asks the other team provides as they split down the middle, Malfoy steps through with a haunting smirk as he steps down the center. Nina grabs the back of Hermione's robes as she feels her face tingle and she turns her head down in embarrassment, she always had a thing for quidditch uniforms on pretty much everyone, " _Oh no, he looks good in it"_ her mind betrays her as it thinks against her will. She didn't want to admit he had grown slightly and became more appealing to the eye, but that mixed with a very fitting uniform made her own mind work against her.

"I'm not the only new thing on this team, now am I" Malfoy says pridefully as Ron seems to be the first to notice the sleek black brooms each of the members in green were holding.

"Those are nimbus 2001!" Ron cries and Malfoy only seems to grow in arrogance.

"You see Weasley, some of us Wizarding families can afford the best!" Malfoy's voice burns through the air and multiple people become angered but stay put.

"At least nobody on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in, it's made up of pure talent" Hermione chimes and it makes Nina smile, but this changed Malfoy's demeanor immediately as he turns and approaches Hermione and Nina grabs her arm as if telling her to steel her heart for what is coming.

"Malfoy, don't" She says softly and his eyes flash to her but then back to Hermione.

"Nobody asked your opinion, You filthy little mudblood" Nina's eyes grew as he says it, she expected something but not something as harsh as that. Before she reacts wand pulls his wand out.

"Eat slugs!" He shouts and the flash of green backfires and hits Ron, who flies back and the Gryffindors surround him. Nina grabs her stomach and becomes pale as she hears Ron heaving and the the wet noise that follows, Harry and Hermione pick him up and begin running with him down the hall, where Ron had been sits a slimy slug and Nina feels ill; She could never stomach Vomit or gross body fluids from pimples or boils. She hears laughing behind her from the Slytherin Quidditch team as they make snide comments, Nina turns and stomps over to where Malfoy stands and before she can stop herself the sharp sound of skin echos the licks his teeth and touches where her hand had collided with his skin, a grin crossing his face as he slowly looks at her, her eyes furious as she spins on her heel to follow her friends to Hagrid's.

•◆•

"Are you sure this will work." Nina says softly as she drops a hair from Pansy Parkinson into the potion in her hand, while her three friends do the same but with different hairs.

"If it doesn't we will be in big trouble" Hermione says taking a deep breath. "Remember we only have an hour" She says before they all down the potion, and each one end up leaning over a sink or toilet.

"Hermione let's go!" Ron says looking like Crabbe while Harry stands to the side with Nina.

"Just go! You're wasting time" Harry, Ron and Nina look at eachother skeptically before running through the school to the basement and then the dungeon.

"Where is the common room" Nina says turning to Goyle and he looks put on the spot. "You didn't think of finding out where we have to be-" She is cut off as Percy Weasley comes down the hall with a bitter expression on his face.

"What are _you_ three doing out of your commonroom? It's past curfew!" He says and the three of them freeze up, they couldn't get caught already!

"Pansy! Crabbe! Goyle! I've been looking everywhere for you! Grabbed, Goyle been pigging out in the great hall again" Malfoy says swaggering down the hall and Nina turned away to refrain from a rude comment. But thankfully he saved their asses as he leads them to the commonroom.

"Is this yours?" He asks finding a small present placed upon the lamp table and the three of them shake their heads and he makes a face of decision and pockets it, making Nina frown. "Is there a problem Pansy?" He says striding over to her and looking down on her. Their height wasn't terribly different even if she wasn't herself, but the height was enough for her to have to slightly look up.

"No there isn't Malfoy" She says softly and his face looks taken back.

"I've told you before, we, you and I are allies and the best first years in Slytherin. Call me Draco." He says smiling as he tilts his head down and his lips hover just in front of hers, panicking she pushes him and he stumbles back. "What was that for!" He snaps and she looks away covering her mouth.

"I haven't brushed my teeth all week, and I think I just ate a month old sandwich!" She says quickly and his face twists into disgust, but he falls back on a couch and lounges as if he was someone of importance.

"I'm surprised the daily prophet hasn't been doing any reports on these attacks. I suppose Dumbledore is covering it all up, father always did say he was the worst thing that happened to this school" Malfoy sneers and Goyle tenses up.

"You're wrong!" He shouts and Nina grabs his arm tightly, Malfoy tilts his head in surprise before kicking off the arm of the couch and standing.

"What!?" Malfoy says violently and Nina felt a tinge of fear shoot through her stomach. "You think there is someone here, worse than Dumbledore? Well? Do you!" Malfoy continues and the three of them look away.

"Harry Potter?" Goyal says and that seemed to appeal to Malfoy as his shoulders relax and he stands straight, still with a bitter expression, after a moment he nods and snorts in approval.

"Good one Goyle! You're absolutely right. Saint potter! And people actually believe he is the heir to slytherin?" He seems angered at the fact.

"But then you must know who _is_ the heir." Goyal says and Nina slips her hand from his shoulder.

"You know I don't Goyle. I told you yesterday. How many times must I repeat myself!?" He paces and makes sure his hair is still in place. "But my father did say this, it's been fifty years since the camber was last opened. He wouldn't tell me who opened it, but that they were expelled!" he becomes more serious as he speaks. "Last time the chamber was opened a mudblood was killed, so it's only a matter a matter of time before another is killed this time" Nina clenches her jaw to stop herself from being exposed as he speaks poorly of muggle borns yet again this year. "As for me I hope it's Granger." Nina's eyes grow wide as Crabbe stands as if to attack Malfoy but is stopped by Goyle, and Nina notices their features begin to mold through. They begin to run and Nina goes to follow but feels a hand grab her arm and pull her back,

"Good I thought they'd never leave" He says looking at her and she grits her teeth as he tilts her head, grinning before his face drops. Her eyes were no longer brown, they were grey, a warm grey like new ash laying along with embers of a dying fire. "Volkov?" He whispers and she feels panic fill her once more and she shoves him before turning and running fast out the entrance of the commonroom.

"He saw me!" She says slowing down and panting as she enters the second floor bathroom.

"What!?" She hears Ron and Harry cry as they have fully morphed back into their regular selves.

•◆•

"I told you he was a fake!" Nina says sitting on a rock, leaning on her hand bitterly as Ron sits across from her while Lockhart walks around mindlessly as he seems to find the stone walls rather fascinating.

"I knew he was fake!" Ron says and throws his arms up and Nina rolls her eyes bitterly as she taps her foot.

"I hope Harry is alright, if there really is a Basalisk… I don't know how Harry is gonna do it!" Nina was genuinely worried for her friend as all she can do is sit an wait.

•◆•

"Again" Her father says sitting with her mother and the Malfoys, Nina stands dressed from head to toe in white across from another dressed the same. The hot sun beat down on the two of them, the two of them had done this before while growing up, doing their studies and streangthening their skills together, their masks and padding causing sweat to build up faster. Standing straight she twists the rapier that sits in her hand, bowing they begin stepping forward and tracking one another blocking the others attack. Metal on metal rings through the air of the gardens, the high hedges sectioning off the area where the two families sit. The two young teenagers stand on a lifted wooden stage as they are watched by their parents, Nina steps faster and forces her opponent back as she quickly spins her hand so her blade goes under theirs and she snaps her wrist up, their rapier goes flying off the wooden surface and onto the stone path she holds her sword to their neck and she could feel the hatred seeping through the mask of the one standing across from her. Clapping comes from the circular table where the adults sit, sipping tea and no did eating finger food, the boy across from her removes his helmet as he keeps his head down, his hair sticking to his sweaty forehead as his ice eyes stay locked on her. Following his actions Nina removes her helmet shaking her sweaty head and panting with a smile, she couldn't beat Draco at many things but fencing was something they were equally matched in. Today was her day, she won six matches and he won three and her chest was puffed in pride.

"You two go wash up and we will wait for you here." Vas says smiling as Nina approaches the table grabbing a green apple slice and a small sandwich strip before running after malfoy who was pouting as he approached the house, she comes to his side and she could sense the snide comment, so taking the apple she shoves it in his mouth grinning.

"Save the comments for school, for now. Let's try not snapping at one another." She says as he stops before catching up to her and walking at her side.

"You know you didn't have to be so boastful about winning." He says bitterly as they go up the stairs.

"I kept my comments to myself, if you won than you would be rubbing it in my face!" She says grinning to herself as she looks over her shoulder at the taller boy.

"Yeah, but it's expected of me" He says as she stops at her room door."This only become expected of you if you allow yourself to drop to others expectations. You just love the attention" She coos as she steps in her room and shuts the door before he can say anything else.


	3. Azkaban 1

Nina sits upon her bed kicking her feet as she reads through a book about magical Birds and their Hybrids. Her bed was placed in a separate area from her room, it was in a raised turret that she had to step up three steps to get to her bed, the turret was made up of large windows that made the small circular room bright and the drapes seem a lighter colour than they were. Barron screeches as he taps on the smaller door like window to gain Nina's attention, sitting up quickly she opens the window and the wet bird lands on its perch next to her bed, smiling she takes the letter from his beak and strokes his head.

"That's right, take your time to rest" She says softly as her bird immediately begins to fall asleep, his perch was surrounded in darker coloured drapes so he could sleep during the day. Sitting cross legged in her bed she opens the letter smiling to herself, standing up and running along the side of her bed, she leaps over the stairs into the open space of her room and to the door. She runs down the balcony hall and down the imperial staircase and to the stone foyer. "Mother! Father! I got a letter from the my friends! They want me to meet them at the leaky cauldron tomorrow!" she says as she enters the drawing room, the Malfoy's had been spending more and more time at the Volkov manor so she wasn't surprised, but she didn't enjoy the look they made when she mentioned the Weasley's. Today was her younger sister's birthday and they were having a variety of guests come over to celebrate.

"Nina we can discuss that later tonight, right now Narcissa and I are still planning the party." She says flustered as her father stands smiling with his hand on her sister's shoulder.

"The other guests will be arriving shortly, why don't you and Draco go for a walk." Her father says telling her rather than asking. Nina takes a deep breath, her white dress swaying with her movement. Her dress was a simple baby doll style for the upper part of the dress, her lower half flared out like a short ball gown with lots of bright red tulle that could be seen as she moved but otherwise was unable to be seen. Nina had become slimmer over the summer, growing up she had been a little more round than she enjoyed and it constantly made her feel uncomfortable, but she felt a bit more comfortable as she became more fit as the summer progressed, her face was still more round and her cheeks big which was her least favorite feature to her body, her skin had also paled even if she was out during the summer it became more creamy rather than bronze. Turning she begins towards the back of the house and she hears his shoes tapping the stone flooring as he follows her to the back of the house.

"Remember, Let's try to get along. For today, as soon as we touch the platform then we will go back to hating each other. Alright?" Nina says and he laughs running his fingers through his hair, the sides slicked back as the top is just combed back freely giving him a sly player like look as he nods in agreement.

"So I've wondered, but never cared to ask. You are of Russian blood, where is the accents?" Draco asks with his hands in the pockets of his black pants as he walks next to her.

"I've already told you, My mother is a direct decedent of the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova or Romanov. She was the only living member of the Romanov family who had been the rulers of Russia for many generations. You see they were betrayed by a trusted member of their court, Rasputain, and he used the impirius curse on the muggles that turned on my family and set to kill them." Antonina explains the history to him until he rudely interrupts her.

"Muggle? Doesn't that mean you aren't truly a pureblood?" Draco asks with disgust in his voice.

"Well if you let me finish you would know, to the muggles the Romanov were just rulers, to our world they were one of the purest lines. My great great grandmother came to England and set roots, she married a rich pureblood man and had this Manor built so her decedent's could flourish and prove their wealth and blood status. My grandmother had a Daughter, my great grandmother, whom got married and had my Grandfather… My Grandfather got married very young and had a daughter, my aunt Elenora, but her died when she turned twenty and my grandfather remarried right away and had my mother shortly after. From there my sister and I were born and my Aunt had my Cousin Barnabas, you know him since he landed himself in azkaban while my crazed aunt is hidden somewhere in the world." Nina explains and crosses her arms. "My last name would be Romanov if my mother hadn't gone against her father's wishes, but she did what most women do when they marry. My mother doesn't wish us to ascend the throne for royalty, we are happy where we are and that is why she is different from my aunt." Nina hadn't realized but they had come to the families graves, each marked with a marble statue of the deceased. Draco huffs and looks around at the garden, his eyes going over the flowers before looking back at her. He goes to say something but then they hear shouting, and it sounds as if their fathers had gotten into a heated argument.

"I wonder what they are fighting about?" Nina says and takes a step forward before her forearm is grabbed tightly.

"I'm sure it's nothing, your father probably did something stupid again." Draco says grinning as Nina turns with anger in her eyes as he insults her father.

"If you aren't careful Malfoy I will break that pretty little nose of yours" she says through her teeth and anger filling her voice.

"So you think it's pretty? I'd say handsome but pretty will do just as good. I've grown can't you see. Mother thinks I am quite handsome" He says boasting leaning closer to her with hooded eyes. She growls in frustration and stomps her foot, which catches the attention of their fathers. Lucius and Alik straighten themselves out before her father shouts across the yard.

"Nina, bring Draco... the other guests have arrived please come along" He says clearing his throat and the two of them enter the house, soon followed by the two young Hogwarts students.

A few hours later, everyone left except the Malfoys who were drinking fine red wine and mead in the study area, a fire roaring as they laugh and tell stories. Draco and Antonina are sitting at a round table across from each other, their heads down on the table surface, exhaustion wanting them to sleep and annoyance of the adults keeping them awake, Draco was up since he couldn't leave on his own and Nina was forced to keep him company. Draco was in dire need of going home, and Nina wanting him out so she could go to bed, her sister allowed to be fast asleep in bed but the two older kids forced to be up. Nina grabs the letter she got and reads it over once again, the neat writing of Hermione scrawled across through parchment. She smiles at the note as there is and short story of Hermione's summer but then a not telling her to meet them at the Leaky Cauldron. Before she knew it Draco snatched the letter and laughed.

"You're still friends with that sorry excuse of a witch? not to mention mudblood!" He says dropping the note next to her and she stands up quickly the chair knocking over with the movement as she turns and points her finger at him.

"I bloody swear Malfoy! take it back or I'll hex!" He laughs and smacks her hand away grinning wickedly.

"You wouldn't dare, you don't have the nurve to use magic out of school" He says popping his chest out.

"Who says I would do it out of school" She snaps and growls under her breath.

"You wouldn't" He says his eyes narrowing.

"Oh but I learned from the best, I can be just as sly and wicked as as my teacher" she says darkly, referring to Draco himself. He taught her many hexes his father showed him growing while he was growing up, he also taught her ones he learned on his own. This changed his face, causing causing it to go blank. Narcissa stands and puts down her glass before speaking.

"Perhaps it'd be best if we took our leave, the children seem to be restless... we shall see you at the station yes?" She says turning to Vasilisa, as Lucius walks over and shoves Draco towards the door.

"Thank you for having us, we shall wait outside." Lucius says and exits the house.

"It was wonderful to see you again my dear, and yes when she leaves for school we shall go to the production." Narcissa says as she and her mother are already making plans

They exchange quick goodbyes and soon the Malfoys are gone.

Antonina went upstairs to her room and wrote back to Hermione saying she would be there around lunch on the day they were going if possible. Now all she had to to do was ask her parents again, which wouldn't be too much of a problem.

•¤•

"Draco! Why must you be so cruel to her" His mother asks as they enter their manor.

"I don't know, because I have to!" He snaps and his father hisses making him shrink back.

"Respect your mother!" He says and Draco looks at the floor.

"Yes father." He says softly and fixes his cloak.

"Tomorrow we are taking you to get your hair trimmed, get some sleep my boy" His mother speaks softly and pulls him close while kissing his forehead, and with that he goes to the second floor and to the west wing where his room was placed. He always was reminded how lucky he was, he had an entire wing of the house to himself, many rooms he had explored and found their secrets that he wasn't suppose to find. He had read many books about the dark arts and he found it fascinating how the minds of dark wizards of the past would work, he learned new things about potions, forgotten spells, and so much more. The one subject he found the most interesting was Alchemy, he found many books about the subject, theory's through the ages that have been proven wrong or modified to work more efficiently.

Why was he so harsh on Nina, he was rude to everyone but he harped on her more than anyone other than potter, he remembers when he first met Crabbe and Goyle. He wanted to impress them so he picked up a pair of scissors and said

"Watch this!" as he approached her and cut her hair diagonally up her back, her parents became furious with him and the next year was very lonely since the Volkov family stopped coming to visit so frequently, well they stopped coming all together. It made his studies boring and lonely since she wasn't sitting there pointing out the obvious and becoming doe eyed with fascination, he would sit there while his mother would read the paper and drink her tea or wine, depending on the time of day or how the day was going.

But why was he so rude to her now that he could talk to her again, was it the fact she was in a different house? Because of her friend choices? Or was it just because he was angry at her for ignoring him for a year?

What ever it was he didn't enjoy it, but he did enjoy how they got along for at least a little bit of the summer.


	4. Azkaban 2

The rain falls hard against the stone pavement, making it damn near impossible to see ten feet in front of you, the thunder claps above the buildings of London shaking the ground beneath those brave enough or stupid enough to be out in such weather.

Nina finds herself running along the streets in the heavy downpour with her trunk clunking behind her as her soaked feet hit deep puddles and her feet make awful squishing sounds as they hit the ground. Nina had left late at night and had taken a train from the station a little less than a mile from her home and almost as soon as she shut the door behind her, the sky had turned against her as the star filled sky had filled with thick heavy clouds and then the liquid heavy clouds began to release their weight upon the word, even with the large hood that hangs over her face her navy blue raincoat couldn't shield all the rain from her body, so it made her move even faster as the thought of being warm in her room that she will be renting for the next few days. In the back of her mind she regretted leaving home and going against her father's wishes, he told her not to go but she slipped out anyway, hopefully her parents would find the note she left apologizing for her disobedience but she felt the need to go against her parents word. Finally she comes to the door of the Leaky Cauldron and she pushes the door open and heaves her unwilling trunk into the dim lighting of the dining area, setting the trunk on its end she unbuttons her coat and shakes it near the door.

"Oh Brimstone and Broil!" She huffs angrily as she notices just how soaked she is,

"Nina!" Her name is called from across the room and she turns to see the dark hair and striking green eyes of Harry Potter as he makes his way to her, she smiles and hugs him tight and he makes a discomforted face as his shirt becomes damp.

"Oh Harry, you haven't been up to trouble have you?" She says teasingly before backing up and grinning happily at her friend.

"No not yet. I did accidentally blow up my aunt though, You're here why? Does that mean the others are coming along as well?" He asks questioning with a bit of hope in his voice, the excitement clear on his face.

"They should be here by the morning, didn't you get Hermione's owl? Oh well, let me check in and get my stuff to my room, then let's catch up alright?" Nina makes her way to the desk and pays for a simple room, she grabs her trunk and Harry and her talk on the way to find her room. "So explain to me how you blew your aunt up." Nina says with a blank face as she looks between the key and the door numbers.

"Well my aunt was talking badly about my parents. I- I am not sure how I did it but she just started to... bloat up until she flew right out the back door!" He says and she finally finds her room and opens it jiggling the knob until it opens.

"Well that's normal for young Wizards and Witches, it's like… Muggle puberty, voice cracks, accidental _pop ups_ if you get my drift, and all that jazz" She says rather plainly her voice piping up in a slightly amused tone as placing her trunk in the corner and smiling at her friend.

Laughing taking a sip of her lemon and honey tea to ease her sore throat from laughing so much and from the start of as cold, while Harry tells her of his summer. There were taps on the glass and she ran over letting one soaked Barron into the room, landing on the table he shakes off the water from his wings and begins rearranging his feathers dropping a letter where she was sitting while he begins rearranging his feathers. She freezes as her eyes land on the dark parchment that sits still on the table, she slowly makes her way over with the thick blanket on her shoulders sits down across the table from harry and furrows her brows.

"It's a howler" Harry says recognizing the red envelope Neville and Ron had received in the past with a purple seal and ribbon on it.

"I can see that Harry!" She snaps and he grins, slowly opens it and it flies up into the air and the resemblance of her father is apparent, the thick brows made of paper folds and his sharp eyes seeming to be cut out.

_"Antonina! How dare you run off like that, your mother was losing her mind trying to find you, We even called upon the Malfoy's! Due to your foolishness Draco is soaked and has caught a feverish flu._

_Just when we were going to send out a search party... we get a notice from the Weasley family, you were meeting them at the Leaky Cauldron! Even though your mother and I said no! But there is no use making you come home now._

_We are glad you are safe, please continue to be. Please say Hello for us. We will meet you at the platform to see you off_

_Your loving father Alik Volkov."_

The letter tears itself up in front of her and she looks at harry before laughing, he looks at her with a surprised look.

"You left without telling them!?" He says laughing with disbelief, even with Hermione as his friend she had more of a chance of disobeying her parents than Nina.

"Well I wouldn't be here otherwise, I wasn't going to miss a chance going to DiagonAlly with my friends. We all need to get our robes, books, and supplies. So it only makes sense" She says leaning back and relaxing.

"I already have my books actually" Harry leans against the chair and runs his hand through his curly and untamed hair ruffling it more than it already was.

"Well you still need a robe, you've grown!" She says rather bitterly. Nina stood at five feet tall and showed no signs of growing any time soon. She didn't like being short, all her friends who were taller than her would put their arms on her head jokingly, but she didn't find it funny a lot of the time even if she laughed.

She bunches up her pointy and perky nose in anger as Harry makes a snarky remark about her height, she tries to keep the angered shell but is broken as she yawns loudly.

"We should retire for the night, we have a big day tomorrow and everyone should be here early." Antonina says as she follows Harry the door and he says goodnight and leaves.

Antonina sits on her bed and hums along with lullaby the music box she brought from home, it plays on the bedside table as she brushes out her hair shoulder blade length hair before laying down and going to sleep.

As Nina would have done at home, Nina woke with the sun and was ready for the day by the time the sun brought light to the buildings and the street lights were turned off. Her nose was stuffy and she was sneezing a lot but it went fairly unnoticed as she and Harry (who she woke up) found Ron and Hermione fighting over her Cat and His Rat.

"Man when will they just kiss!" Nina says leaning over to Harry, grinning as he nods in agreement, and they are noticed by their friends who stop fighting to turn and smile at them, after the commotion of the Weasley's arriving and seeming to take up half the inn on their own, Antonina had ordered dragon snap tea at one of the long tables and reading the paper, trying to chase the cold from her system. Apparently a murderer had escaped, one of the Blacks. A truly crazy family and relatives of the Malfoys through Narcissa, who was sister to Bellatrix Lestrange. Everyone was on high alert but Azkaban is far far away, so anyone near DiagonAlly let alone Hogwarts was safe. Sirius Black had escaped and Nina remembers a picture of he and her mother in a photo, hidden in a book in the Volkov family library.

The large family of Weasleys file into the main room and Mrs Weasley greets everyone as she comes in hugging Harry and Hermione, Antonina standing and moving over to hug the welcoming woman, Nina had only met Molly Weasley the previous year but she felt like she had known the woman her entire life. As the family settled Harry was taken to the side by Mr Weasley and they seemed to be having a pretty intense conversation from what Nina could tell. She is interrupted by the fire haired twins as they lean down on either side of her grinning and looking at the paper.

"Hey there little lady, isn't this paper a bit mature for such a small girl as you" They say sharing the words as they look at her, with their mischievous grins, both knowing full well she hates people commenting on her height.

She leans back and scoffs as she glances at the twins with an open mouth and eyes wide with amusement and offence.

"Excuse me, I am allowed to do as I please. I am a pureblood! I can do whatever and you have to do WHATEVER I SAY" she says in a singing tone with her hand on her chest pretending to be a prideful and rude pureblood.

"How would you like to help us design a few gadgets we could use in the future?" they ask and Nina looks at them questioningly but before she can reply, "We will take that as a few yes" twins grin and bid a farewell soon after to go set up in their rooms.

Ron and Harry had gone to check out the newest brooms, the firebolt recently came out and it was the new craze among quidditch players, and part of Nina wanted to join the boys. Ginny, Hermione and And Antonina were making their way to Madam Malkin's robe shop, Nina needed her school skirt hemmed to fit and fall cloak in request of her mother. Her last skirt no longer fit as her body was changing and her robes were torn due to her wearing them during a horseback riding session.

These thoughts came up as they passed the junk shop, one of their window items was a worn saddle very simple and reminded her of her own. But this one didn't have the same colour or engravings as hers, part of her regretted not taking her mounts out for a last ride before leaving for the school year. A sigh leaves her lips before they soon approach the seamstress shop when Hermione and Ginny get caught up looking at a newly bought tabby kitten a fellow Gryffindor girl student had just purchased. Nina took the chance to enter the tailoring shop to get her things first, but is stopped by the tall lean body of Draco malfoy. He grins and continues walking, forcing her to back up into the street but not so far into the traffic of people.

"Where are you going Malfoy? Knockturn alley to go see your sick and twisted Slytherin friends" Antonina says as her lips curl back in disgust.

"Are you sure you want to be speaking to me like that?" Malfoy says with purr in his voice, as he gets close to her and stands right in front of her their chests barely touching, his height separating them if he was shorter their noses would be touching, his eyes red from sickness and bags seem to be forming under his eyes from lack of sleep.

"After your stunt on running away, you caused quite some distress with me and my family. We stayed up and went looking for you! Mother and I looked in your usual places while our fathers went to the ministry to see if you passed though. I say you owe me, I missed a good night's sleep. How about we get a room in the back and you can repay me, in one of those tight change rooms~" his words low and deep, his nose was red and raw while his whole facade is destroyed as turns his head and sneezes into his arm.

"That's horrid!" Hermione chimes in from behind the two as she refers to his words rather than health, and Nina scoffs.

"I'm amazed your voice didn't crack, Malfoy. You were having trouble all summer, and plus aren't you a little young for such big boy talk. Gasp! what if mummy finds out" Nina teases him but not in the erotic way he hoped, she was making fun of him. A growl of annoyance leaves his mouth before he turns and re enters the robe shop with a bratty strut. Nina motions for her friends to stay out of the shop as she follows Malfoy close behind.

"You didn't have to be so rude about the matter. I didn't run away because I was being a baby… I just don't always want to follow the rules" Nina says as he fixes his robes in the mirror and he turns smiking at her.

"Did you follow me in here to take me up on my offer then?" He says proudly before he sneezes again and she snickers before doing the same out of Karma.

"No when I heard you were getting your hair trimmed I didn't think you would turn to this... monstrosity." She says with a snort and he returns to being unamused. He grabs her hand and spins her around, pulling her so her body is pressed up against him, his breath hot against her neck as he speaks.

"You don't seem to understand yet do you, Volkov. I practically own you~ my family is on a higher pedestal so you bow to me. It's not wise to be my enemy, Antonina~" his words are harsh as his father enters the room and sees the two, a slight change to his stone like expression. Amusement?

"Draco unless you two are dancing, that is no way to treat a lady." Lucius says with warning to his son, and Draco releases her soon after as his head casts down and Nina fixes her black pea coat."Antonina, I am glad you are safe and alive, though you caused great panic among both our families. Draco here was distraught when he learned you were missing." Lucius says with a soft smile, seeming to be glad no harm came to the child of his close friend.

"I wanted to thank you and Draco for your efforts in my childish actions. I did not mean to cause you and your family worry... I just needed to do something on my own for once." She says with slight hesitation but then strength as she raises her head.

"Courage? Or pride... I see why they put you in Gryffindor, though you would have made one of the best Slytherins. Perhaps you could even teach my son some manners. How interesting how two children raised together grow to be so different... Be careful, that courage and pride of yours will harm you in ways you cannot even begin to imagine. Just be careful, a pretty girl like you is always at risk... Come Draco you still need supplies and your mother is waiting." Lucius turns and leaves quickly Draco looks at her as if she had betrayed him in some way but soon follows his father with haste. Soon after their departure Madam Malkin's comes out from the and puts her hands on her hips as she looks Nina up and down.

"Hello dearie, let's get you fixed up."

 


	5. Azkaban 3

Nina pulls her trunk behind her as she looks around smiling softly, her eyes landing upon her parents and her bitter looking sister who is clinging to Draco's cloak, while he hugs his mother tight. Nina slowly approaches and her mother turns and hugs her tight as soon as she is noticed, Nina in return tightly hugs her mother.

"Don't ever do that again" Her mother says kissing her forehead, she says goodbye to her family and the Malfoys before entering the train on it's last call whistle, Nina ignores Malfoy as he follows her onto the train and she met up with her friends again but the only compartment they found had room for three of them, since there was a snoozing teacher taking up half of a seat, so they settled it like reasonable wizards…

"Not it!" Harry, Ron and Hermione say quickly and Nina furrows her brow not sure what the term meant, but then realizing she got the short end of the stick.

"It's fine, I'll go find another compartment. I'll see you at Hogwarts" Nina says smiling and turning down the train hall, she traveled down looking in each compartment, each ands full as the last except a few with small groups of first years, but first years drove not only the teachers crazy but they made everyone go mental, so she didn't think twice before continuing on. Clutching her messenger bag to her hip, the bag was made of black leather, on the flap a crescent moon sits in the middle of a six pointed star and at each point is an alchemy symbols embroidered into the smooth leather, her fingers trace the antique silver lock keeping the bag closed, an extension charm had been put on the bag, curiosity of the Malfoys who actually gave her the bag as a late birthday present. Nina was born on late at night on December 27th 1979, the night had been plagued by a blizzard, where you couldn't see anything in front of you but if you looked up at clear starry sky accompanied by a full moon could be seen clearly. Her mother was unable to leave the house to give birth in at proper hospital since the floo network went down and it was unsafe to apparate when giving birth. Her father called upon the Malfoy's since Narcissa had spent at great deal of time studying the human body and in result she had the knowledge of the female reproductive system and knew how things worked, and she had recently had a baby herself, she helped Vasilisa give birth to Antonina with the help of the house elves.

"Trouble finding a compartment?" She hears the unusually calm and gently voice of Malfoy turning she looks up at the boy whose hair covered his forehead as he looks down at her. "There is room in my compartment, if you don't mind the smell of Crabbe and Goyle" He says and she weighs her options as she crosses her arms, sighing she looks down and closes her eyes.

"Please don't tell me this is a trick, I am not in the mood for your antics." She says frustrated due not having a compartment yet.

"No tricks… My lady~" He says holding his hand out and she smacks it away pushing past him, finding the compartment where Malfoy's _friends_ were out cold on one side of the compartment while the other side was vacant except for a bag placed next to the window. Nina sits and moves the bag to the side near the door, she looks up at the blonde boy and he frowns at her as he shuts the door and shuts the blinds. "We can't have our _reputations_ ruined by acting docile towards one another" He says and sits down next to her, leaning against the window as his eyes drift over her.

"You aren't sick anymore" Nina says softly as she notices his nose wasn't as red and he looked as healthy and snobby as normal.

"Of course I'm not, but I can't say the same for you." He says and she looks at him with a sullen expression, he opens his bag and pulls out a small pack half eaten pack of red candies and drops it on her lap. "Dragon drops." He says closing his eyes and resting his head against the window. Dragon drops was a potion that had been taken out and hardened into small ovals, used as flu medicine that one would take through out the day and by the morning the flu was usually gone. She tears down the spiral tube and pops the spicy yet sweet flavor of the drop and she relaxes her shoulders as the pain in her throat becomes lessened immediately and a smirk crosses his relaxed face as she sighs in relief.

"Thank you, Malfoy." She says softly and begins to loosen up.

"Well, who else is going to take care of you after you made that idiotic decision and ran away. My mother told me to give them to you" He says gently and she closes her eyes as she feels relaxed. Time seemed to drift as she entered a dreamless state of sleep, she somehow allowed herself to fall asleep in the same room as Malfoy and his friends, she felt heavy and slowly her dream state deepened. What seemed to be moments later she feels a weight on her lap and looks down with groggy eyes, Malfoys blond hair resting on her lap and she looks at him with an amused and tired smile.

"What are you doing?" She says and runs her fingers through her hair and rubs her eyes as she stretches and yawns.

"You have to ask? You know I like my hair being stroked. And you've been asleep for hours!" He says peeking his eye open up at her, and she takes a deep breath before slowly lifting her hand, her fingers slowly entwine with his soft and silky hair, the sleep that still clouded her mind did not wish to cause a fight. "Sing to me" He commands and she scoffs.

"You brat! You're so bossy." She says sarcastically, laughing as moving his hair from his forehead her eyes a drifting to the rain coated window and darkened sky, she really had been out cold for a long time since the sky was blue and the sun was out when she fell asleep.

"What do you expect? It's how I get when I'm near a pretty girl" He says and she frowns smacking him on his forehead lightly. "Hey!" He says sitting up and looking at her in confusion.

"Don't lie, especially when there is nobody around for you to _entertain_ " She says bitterly and he looks at her even more baffled

"Wha- oh~" a broad grin crosses his face as his eyes narrow. "Little Volkov have a problem with her looks~" Nina notices Goyle smiling with a stupid look in his eye and she suddenly understood his change in attitude, huffing in irritation she grabs her bag and opens the door to the hall turning and glaring at him as she turns.

"I am fine with how I look! You should learn some manners Malfoy! It will get you farther in life" She snaps and slams the door shut rather hard before stomping down the hall, lost in angered thoughts she didn't have the reflexes to catch herself as the train comes to a violent stop, causing Nina to fall forward as she hits the ground hard, blacking out for a moment as her forehead connects with the corridor floor she slowly lifted herself, her vision dark and starry and the lights in the train had cut off making it harder to see, the only light that filled the train was from the moonlight that snuck through the clouds as she pushes herself up her fingers become cold and stiff, her breath visible in the air as she felt a sadness begin to fill her chest. A dark hooded figure drifts through the air before her and she froze, a thing of nightmares sits before her and she holds her breath in fear. Dementors were things her father told her to avoid at all costs, the closest she had been to a Dementor in the past was when her family was brought to the trial of her cousin, which she had attended when she was very young. The water turning to ice along the windows next to her, she felt panic filling her chest but she couldn't scream, for the sound refused to come. She begins to crawl backwards with her hands as her legs feel like stone and will not move, she began to breath rapidly in terror and she doesn't notice the compartment door open next to her, she feels large hands grab her biceps and pull her into the open door. Her back feels warm as she feels a body beneath her, a hand extended next to her head with a wand out and she hears scared whispering of a third person, a bright light shoots past the door and an screeching is heard in response, after a moment the lights begin to flicker back on and the trolley lady walks in front of their open compartment door.

""That was quite a fright wasn't it. Would you like something from the trolley?" She asks the terrified students as they shake their heads together, she nods and continues on down the hall. She hears a deep laughter from behind her, she sees a boy with dark tanned skin, his head back as his chest rumbles, pushing off him she turns bright red and he slowly drops his head eyeing Nina, his hair was a dark brown almost black, it was long and very curly almost messy yet contained on the very top of his head, while the sides are short enough that you could see his scalp and very short stubble like hairs along the sides. His sharp eyes were a warm and electrifying blue that seemed to have the ability to hypnotize as a beauty mark under his left eye accents his features, she recognized this tall and slender boy as the Ravenclaw Keeper. Behind the boy was a girl, her face was oval shaped and her eyes were large doe shaped and coloured a warm honey brown, her skin was pale and creamy but her most interesting feature was her hair, the colour was white as snow but the undertone seemed to shine a very pale pink, her smile was warm and inviting. The girl was built like a tank with broad shoulders and large muscles, she had remembered a group of Slytherins making fun of her for her height the previous year, she was the Hufflepuff beater and in Nina's year as far as she knew.

"That was fun" The girl spoke and her voice was bubbly and stone just as she looked.

"Fun? We almost died!" The boy exclaims in an unusually deep and husky voice, one that didn't fit a student but an older man. "Antonina, right?" He says and stands holding a hand to the nameless Hufflepuff girl.

"Nina actually, but yeah. And you are?" Nina says feeling odd that he knew her name.

"Diana Teuda, third year Hufflepuff, you had quite some fall" The tall girl says as she bends down to Nina's height, which causes her eyes to narrow in anger, the boy seems to pick up on it and grabs Diana by the arm, standing her up.

"I am Vance Woodlock. Fourth year Ravenclaw" The boy says as he sits down near the window with a wide grin on his face.

"So, any defining traits about you two?" Nina asks softly as she pulls herself onto the seat.

"I am a muggle born, technically. My mother is an amazon from south America, my father a muggle. Somehow I became a witch" Diana says smiling kindly as she too sits.

"Umm, I am good at many things. Including Quidditch" Vance says fiddling with the longest curl on his forehead that goes down the bridge of his nose. "What about you?" He asks and Nina sits for a moment to really think about her answer.

"I am supposedly the successor to my father's magical creature business." Her face twists as she thinks of something interesting about her. "I'm trying out for the quidditch team this year" She says and the two light up.

"What position?" Diana says with a bright face as she leans forward excitedly.

"Well with Alicia Spinnet dropping the team this year, there is only room for one chaser. So I will be going for that position" Nina replies in deep thought.

"Spinnet? Why is she dropping the team, she is one hell of a chaser?" Vance says furrowing his brow in confusion, his welsh accent now apparent.

"Well I'm not exactly sure. She just said she can't join this year, something about her mum.'" Nina says shrugging and sitting up smiling at the two pleasant people she had just met.

"Well I'm sure Vance is excited to play you, I know I am!" Diana says brightly, Nina noticed just how genuinely kind the girl was and she gave off a warm happy feeling that seemed to be contagious.

"Oh! Would you mind if I stepped out for a moment, I should go check if my other friends are alright. I'll be right back!" Nina says standing and leaving her back on the seat and they nod as she pulls her money pouch from her bag and places a few Sickles in her pocket, changing her mind on wanting a treat for the ride, starting down the hall she weaves past people who are crowding the small corridor as they catch up from over the summer. Finally she makes it to the third section of the train in the middle compartments, Nina smiles at Hermione and Ron as she opens the door.

"Nina? Are you alright?" Hermione says noticing a bruise forming on Nina's temple.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little banged up, what about you guys? I heard some whispers on my way here." Nina says looking at Harry with worry.

"The Dementor seemed to stray from its task, looking for Sirius Black it ended up attacking Harry. But all is well now" The teacher says as he sits next to Harry, Nina locked eyes with him and she felt as if she should know him, he looked familiar but she couldn't place why.

"Nina this is Professor Lupin, the new Defense Against the Arts teacher." Hermione says motioning to the teacher and Nina smiles, holding out her hand.

"I'm Antonina Volkov." She says and he takes her hand shaking it as he makes a connection and she sees it in his eyes.

"Vasilisa Romanov's Daughter?" He asks and she smiles nodding. "You know, I could tell you stories of your mother and you wouldn't look at her the same way. But knowing what she can do, I'll keep it to myself out of fear and respect" He says smiling as if in remembrance and she is taken back.

"What do you mean?"

"Your mother and I grew up together. She is… was a very good friend of mine" He says as a sense of sadness seems to hit him as his eyes dim.

"Well I came to check on you guys to make sure everything is okay" She says looking at Ron and Hermione who still look a little rustled and very pale Harry who is eating chocolate, she smiles softly at him and her shoulders go limp. "I'm glad nobody is terribly hurt, I'll see you guys at the feast. And I look forward to a proper Defence against the dark arts class with you, Professor" She says referring to the ridiculous fiasco of the previous year with the fake Professor Lockhart.

Waving goodbye with her fingers she heads back down the the corridor, fear weighed heavy in the back of her mind, Dementors were not like anything she had experienced before and she had seen many creatures while along the side of her father. Finally she sees the trolley lady standing at an opened compartment, white blond hair poking around the corner as she passes Malfoy a packet of chocolate firebombs, sighing she strides over smiling at the trolley lady and looks over the woman's shoulder at the variety of sweets.

"May I have a pack of assorted sour strips, a bottle of pumpkin juice and…" Biting her lip she feels the craving for something but can't place it.

" _Raspberry taffy_?" She hears Malfoy say under his breath as he leans on the frame of the compartment door as he pulls a licorice strip, ripping it with his teeth. He keeps his head cast down but his eyes drifts to her face with a sort of knowing expression, her mind clicks as he nails her craving a light bulb going off as her stomach agrees and she nods.

"Yes, assorted sour strips, pumpkin juice, and 150g of raspberry salt water taffy please" She says in a polite and happy tone and the lady fetches her order and Nina pulls her money out and holds it in her palm as she waits. Feeling uncomfortable as Malfoy's eye stay on her, in her awkward feeling she lifts her hand and moves her hair with her knuckles and looks out the dark window, Malfoy straightens up and Nina pays for her things and steps out of the way as the trolley lady continues down the hall.

"I'm going to change, I'll be back" She hears Malfoy's voice become muffled as she distances herself from him, as she enters the compartment she had been invited into by Vance and Diana she puts her things on the seat before feeling a hand grab the back of her shirt and she is dragged out, down the hall she stumbles as she turns around as the one who grabbed her refuses to release her. Making it to the changing section of the compartment she whips around and huffs, pulling her shirt down and straightening out the creases of her blouse.

"What is your problem Malfoy!" Nina snaps and flicks her head, her hair going back into place behind her shoulders.

"What the hell happened to your face, Volkov" He says stepping closer and moving her bangs to the side to expose her bruised forehead, her breath catching as he gets close to examine it and she presses her lips together. "Well? Are you going to tell me? Or shall I make fun of you." He says with a rather annoyed tone, his worry was of slight surprise to her but the fact they knew each other for pretty much their entire life give or take a year, worry was bound to come up for either of them when something happened to the other.

"When the Dementors boarded and the train stopped I fell onto the corridor floor." She says looking to the side in embarrassment.

"Well at least, no lasting damage was done. You already struggle with basic class work, you don't need a disability to add to it" He says rather straight faced but the amusement could be heard in his tone.

"Well Mr Malfoy, if you have forgotten I almost beat your scores last year, if I had done better in potions I would have." She says bitterly.

"Yes well you couldn't boil water let alone make a simple potion, so I have no worries." He says and his mouth twitches into a smirk.

"You don't have to be so rude about it you know." She says pouting and his thumb strokes the purple skin.

"True, but where is the fun in that~" He says softly before stepping back. "I have to change, so unless you'd like to join me~ Go back to your compartment, you should also change soon since this place will be flooded soon." He says looking over her shoulder down the hall.

"Yes well, you get ready." She says turning and starting down the hall with her arms crossed.

"Antonina!" She hears him say her name quickly and she stops and turns to look at him, his arm extended towards her as he points at her, his face a deep pink as he visibly presses his lips together.

"Yes?" She says blinking in curiosity and he drops his arm.

"I- I apologize for my earlier comment. It was out of hand" He says softly and she smiles and looks at the ground shaking her head.

"It's no problem, but I appreciate the apology" She says and her warm grey eyes flash up and meet his icy eyes, turning she continues down the hall, warm feeling filling her chest as she enters the compartment with Diana and Vance.

"What does _Malfoy_ want?" Vance says sneering at the name as his sharp eyes narrow.

"His family and my family are close, he was scolding me for getting hurt" She says and sits on the seat with a huff as she leans her head back and let's out a long sigh, a soft hum rings in the small compartment as Vance slides the door shut with his foot as he lounges across the seat causing Diana to move and sit next to Nina, Nina recognized the turn from her mother listening to a muggle radio station over the summer. She leans her forehead against the chilled window and sits in the comfort of her new friends.

"So if you're close with the Malfoy's, what's your relationship with their revolting son?" Vance says, also relaxing as they let Diana continue.

"Well, Draco and I use to do our studies together, when I was younger my parents were always gone with work and such, so I was sent to the Malfoy manor to be looked after, we were play mates. On rainy days we would sit under a gazebo hidden behind the malfoy manor, actually we would laugh at the white peacocks that live on the grounds of the manor run around to hide from the cold rain." Nina says laughing as she recalls the memories fondly. "We would sit in our cloaks and just be in the company of the other... Draco picked up his nasty personality young, when Crabbe and Goyal would come over, they would tease me and pull my hair out of It's ribbons" She didn't want to mention he went as far as to cut a majority of her hair off. "They would usually end up getting my dress dirty. So in result, my visits became more spaced until I just didn't go anymore. Then school started and I befriended Harry potter, so I am forced to acknowledge that blonde haired git" She says as if a bitter taste had taken over her mouth, she was a lying, she ended up not going all in one day and she was bitter towards Draco for the first two years of school, but this year already seemed different since he actually apologized.

"There must be something else! You wouldn't stop seeing the family would you?" Diana says and Nina felt as if she could trust them.

"He did always apologize after Crabbe and Goyle left, and he would try to help. But one day they cut my hair with a pair of scissors and I had to have my hair cut incredibly short. It was long and always in braids or pinned nicely in the morning by my mother when she had time, Malfoy came up behind me and the two boys urged him on and he ended up doing it. From that day on I was convinced he was cruel and not worthy of my time." She says smirking as the thought comes to mind, she wondered if he remembered or thought of those days.

"We should get ready, Diana has to break off when we get off the train. She has choir to do" Vance says poking her in the rib as they stand and she elbows him.

On the carriage ride the three new friends spoke about Black and his escape, and when they arrive at the school the choir disappears and Nina finds herself very much alone as Vance gets pulled away by his Ravenclaw friends. Nina realized just how little she socialized in the last few years, her third year and she was on top of her studies but only had a hand full of. Even then she was always busy, Hermione was on top but still had time for friends and was top of every class. Nina had kept her head down and in the books, her parents expected the best and she wanted to do her best for them more than herself. She walks into the hall and her robe makes her feel like home, as she goes and sits at the table full if Gryffindors, she knew all of them but just never had a proper conversation with them. She sits and smiles as they greet her, the Weasleys and all the other Gryffindors that were happy to be back.

Nina plates hot wings and honey garlic wings, a moan of satisfaction leaving her lungs and her eyes roll back into her head as she bites deeply into the meat, earning a few awkward looks from the Gryffindors around her she just looks at them with glossy eyes.

"I don't get to eat this kind of food at home!" She defends herself as she shoves a curly french fry in her mouth, the noise coming from her once more as delight shoots up her spine. Soon Dumbledore stands at his owl pedestal. He speaks kindly of our new teacher for DADA classes as well as Hagrid becoming the magical creature teacher, which everyone at Gryffindor was more than thrilled to hear.

"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light." His words are full of wisdom and it made the room calm as everyone remained quiet as they allow their headmaster to speak, soon he walks back to his spot in the center of all the teachers. Nina finished rather quickly, running her fingers through her bangs and pull them back before they fall back into the side swept position, the activities of the evening catching up with her as her limbs feel heavy, her year was booked full of classes and the year would be more packed if she made the quidditch team. Standing when the students were allowed to head for their comomrooms, she makes it to the stairs before she feels someone link their arms with hershe placed his hand on her forearm keeping her next to him.

"Hey sweetlips. let's go for a walk!" He says not really giving her a choice, he pulls her along and she feels him pull her off to the side they head deep into the first floor of the castle, there are a few people ahead of them but they disappear into a room which he soon pulls her into, there they find an assortment of people from different years and houses. He pulls her deeper into the room and they meet up with Diana.

"Okay before anything else happens! what is going on" Nina says to them and the two of them laugh.

"This is for the first night of the year! We get together and we all have fun. Loosen up and get to know each other better, we have one of these get togethers every year" Diana answers her question and Nina decided to go with it, expanding her friendships is something she needed.

So she sits next to the broad shouldered girl and smiles brightly as they begin to share stories of their years growing up.


	6. Azkaban 4

Nina pulls her trunk behind her as she looks around smiling softly, her eyes landing upon her parents and her bitter looking sister who is clinging to Draco's cloak, while he hugs his mother tight. Nina slowly approaches and her mother turns and hugs her tight as soon as she is noticed, Nina in return tightly hugs her mother.

"Don't ever do that again" Her mother says kissing her forehead, she says goodbye to her family and the Malfoys before entering the train on it's last call whistle, Nina ignores Malfoy as he follows her onto the train and she met up with her friends again but the only compartment they found had room for three of them, since there was a snoozing teacher taking up half of a seat, so they settled it like reasonable wizards…

"Not it!" Harry, Ron and Hermione say quickly and Nina furrows her brow not sure what the term meant, but then realizing she got the short end of the stick.

"It's fine, I'll go find another compartment. I'll see you at Hogwarts" Nina says smiling and turning down the train hall, she traveled down looking in each compartment, each ands full as the last except a few with small groups of first years, but first years drove not only the teachers crazy but they made everyone go mental, so she didn't think twice before continuing on. Clutching her messenger bag to her hip, the bag was made of black leather, on the flap a crescent moon sits in the middle of a six pointed star and at each point is an alchemy symbols embroidered into the smooth leather, her fingers trace the antique silver lock keeping the bag closed, an extension charm had been put on the bag, curiosity of the Malfoys who actually gave her the bag as a late birthday present. Nina was born on late at night on December 27th 1979, the night had been plagued by a blizzard, where you couldn't see anything in front of you but if you looked up at clear starry sky accompanied by a full moon could be seen clearly. Her mother was unable to leave the house to give birth in at proper hospital since the floo network went down and it was unsafe to apparate when giving birth. Her father called upon the Malfoy's since Narcissa had spent at great deal of time studying the human body and in result she had the knowledge of the female reproductive system and knew how things worked, and she had recently had a baby herself, she helped Vasilisa give birth to Antonina with the help of the house elves.

"Trouble finding a compartment?" She hears the unusually calm and gently voice of Malfoy turning she looks up at the boy whose hair covered his forehead as he looks down at her. "There is room in my compartment, if you don't mind the smell of Crabbe and Goyle" He says and she weighs her options as she crosses her arms, sighing she looks down and closes her eyes.

"Please don't tell me this is a trick, I am not in the mood for your antics." She says frustrated due not having a compartment yet.

"No tricks… My lady~" He says holding his hand out and she smacks it away pushing past him, finding the compartment where Malfoy's _friends_ were out cold on one side of the compartment while the other side was vacant except for a bag placed next to the window. Nina sits and moves the bag to the side near the door, she looks up at the blonde boy and he frowns at her as he shuts the door and shuts the blinds. "We can't have our _reputations_ ruined by acting docile towards one another" He says and sits down next to her, leaning against the window as his eyes drift over her.

"You aren't sick anymore" Nina says softly as she notices his nose wasn't as red and he looked as healthy and snobby as normal.

"Of course I'm not, but I can't say the same for you." He says and she looks at him with a sullen expression, he opens his bag and pulls out a small pack half eaten pack of red candies and drops it on her lap. "Dragon drops." He says closing his eyes and resting his head against the window. Dragon drops was a potion that had been taken out and hardened into small ovals, used as flu medicine that one would take through out the day and by the morning the flu was usually gone. She tears down the spiral tube and pops the spicy yet sweet flavor of the drop and she relaxes her shoulders as the pain in her throat becomes lessened immediately and a smirk crosses his relaxed face as she sighs in relief.

"Thank you, Malfoy." She says softly and begins to loosen up.

"Well, who else is going to take care of you after you made that idiotic decision and ran away. My mother told me to give them to you" He says gently and she closes her eyes as she feels relaxed. Time seemed to drift as she entered a dreamless state of sleep, she somehow allowed herself to fall asleep in the same room as Malfoy and his friends, she felt heavy and slowly her dream state deepened. What seemed to be moments later she feels a weight on her lap and looks down with groggy eyes, Malfoys blond hair resting on her lap and she looks at him with an amused and tired smile.

"What are you doing?" She says and runs her fingers through her hair and rubs her eyes as she stretches and yawns.

"You have to ask? You know I like my hair being stroked. And you've been asleep for hours!" He says peeking his eye open up at her, and she takes a deep breath before slowly lifting her hand, her fingers slowly entwine with his soft and silky hair, the sleep that still clouded her mind did not wish to cause a fight. "Sing to me" He commands and she scoffs.

"You brat! You're so bossy." She says sarcastically, laughing as moving his hair from his forehead her eyes a drifting to the rain coated window and darkened sky, she really had been out cold for a long time since the sky was blue and the sun was out when she fell asleep.

"What do you expect? It's how I get when I'm near a pretty girl" He says and she frowns smacking him on his forehead lightly. "Hey!" He says sitting up and looking at her in confusion.

"Don't lie, especially when there is nobody around for you to _entertain_ " She says bitterly and he looks at her even more baffled

"Wha- oh~" a broad grin crosses his face as his eyes narrow. "Little Volkov have a problem with her looks~" Nina notices Goyle smiling with a stupid look in his eye and she suddenly understood his change in attitude, huffing in irritation she grabs her bag and opens the door to the hall turning and glaring at him as she turns.

"I am fine with how I look! You should learn some manners Malfoy! It will get you farther in life" She snaps and slams the door shut rather hard before stomping down the hall, lost in angered thoughts she didn't have the reflexes to catch herself as the train comes to a violent stop, causing Nina to fall forward as she hits the ground hard, blacking out for a moment as her forehead connects with the corridor floor she slowly lifted herself, her vision dark and starry and the lights in the train had cut off making it harder to see, the only light that filled the train was from the moonlight that snuck through the clouds as she pushes herself up her fingers become cold and stiff, her breath visible in the air as she felt a sadness begin to fill her chest. A dark hooded figure drifts through the air before her and she froze, a thing of nightmares sits before her and she holds her breath in fear. Dementors were things her father told her to avoid at all costs, the closest she had been to a Dementor in the past was when her family was brought to the trial of her cousin, which she had attended when she was very young. The water turning to ice along the windows next to her, she felt panic filling her chest but she couldn't scream, for the sound refused to come. She begins to crawl backwards with her hands as her legs feel like stone and will not move, she began to breath rapidly in terror and she doesn't notice the compartment door open next to her, she feels large hands grab her biceps and pull her into the open door. Her back feels warm as she feels a body beneath her, a hand extended next to her head with a wand out and she hears scared whispering of a third person, a bright light shoots past the door and an screeching is heard in response, after a moment the lights begin to flicker back on and the trolley lady walks in front of their open compartment door.

""That was quite a fright wasn't it. Would you like something from the trolley?" She asks the terrified students as they shake their heads together, she nods and continues on down the hall. She hears a deep laughter from behind her, she sees a boy with dark tanned skin, his head back as his chest rumbles, pushing off him she turns bright red and he slowly drops his head eyeing Nina, his hair was a dark brown almost black, it was long and very curly almost messy yet contained on the very top of his head, while the sides are short enough that you could see his scalp and very short stubble like hairs along the sides. His sharp eyes were a warm and electrifying blue that seemed to have the ability to hypnotize as a beauty mark under his left eye accents his features, she recognized this tall and slender boy as the Ravenclaw Keeper. Behind the boy was a girl, her face was oval shaped and her eyes were large doe shaped and coloured a warm honey brown, her skin was pale and creamy but her most interesting feature was her hair, the colour was white as snow but the undertone seemed to shine a very pale pink, her smile was warm and inviting. The girl was built like a tank with broad shoulders and large muscles, she had remembered a group of Slytherins making fun of her for her height the previous year, she was the Hufflepuff beater and in Nina's year as far as she knew.

"That was fun" The girl spoke and her voice was bubbly and stone just as she looked.

"Fun? We almost died!" The boy exclaims in an unusually deep and husky voice, one that didn't fit a student but an older man. "Antonina, right?" He says and stands holding a hand to the nameless Hufflepuff girl.

"Nina actually, but yeah. And you are?" Nina says feeling odd that he knew her name.

"Diana Teuda, third year Hufflepuff, you had quite some fall" The tall girl says as she bends down to Nina's height, which causes her eyes to narrow in anger, the boy seems to pick up on it and grabs Diana by the arm, standing her up.

"I am Vance Woodlock. Fourth year Ravenclaw" The boy says as he sits down near the window with a wide grin on his face.

"So, any defining traits about you two?" Nina asks softly as she pulls herself onto the seat.

"I am a muggle born, technically. My mother is an amazon from south America, my father a muggle. Somehow I became a witch" Diana says smiling kindly as she too sits.

"Umm, I am good at many things. Including Quidditch" Vance says fiddling with the longest curl on his forehead that goes down the bridge of his nose. "What about you?" He asks and Nina sits for a moment to really think about her answer.

"I am supposedly the successor to my father's magical creature business." Her face twists as she thinks of something interesting about her. "I'm trying out for the quidditch team this year" She says and the two light up.

"What position?" Diana says with a bright face as she leans forward excitedly.

"Well with Alicia Spinnet dropping the team this year, there is only room for one chaser. So I will be going for that position" Nina replies in deep thought.

"Spinnet? Why is she dropping the team, she is one hell of a chaser?" Vance says furrowing his brow in confusion, his welsh accent now apparent.

"Well I'm not exactly sure. She just said she can't join this year, something about her mum.'" Nina says shrugging and sitting up smiling at the two pleasant people she had just met.

"Well I'm sure Vance is excited to play you, I know I am!" Diana says brightly, Nina noticed just how genuinely kind the girl was and she gave off a warm happy feeling that seemed to be contagious.

"Oh! Would you mind if I stepped out for a moment, I should go check if my other friends are alright. I'll be right back!" Nina says standing and leaving her back on the seat and they nod as she pulls her money pouch from her bag and places a few Sickles in her pocket, changing her mind on wanting a treat for the ride, starting down the hall she weaves past people who are crowding the small corridor as they catch up from over the summer. Finally she makes it to the third section of the train in the middle compartments, Nina smiles at Hermione and Ron as she opens the door.

"Nina? Are you alright?" Hermione says noticing a bruise forming on Nina's temple.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little banged up, what about you guys? I heard some whispers on my way here." Nina says looking at Harry with worry.

"The Dementor seemed to stray from its task, looking for Sirius Black it ended up attacking Harry. But all is well now" The teacher says as he sits next to Harry, Nina locked eyes with him and she felt as if she should know him, he looked familiar but she couldn't place why.

"Nina this is Professor Lupin, the new Defense Against the Arts teacher." Hermione says motioning to the teacher and Nina smiles, holding out her hand.

"I'm Antonina Volkov." She says and he takes her hand shaking it as he makes a connection and she sees it in his eyes.

"Vasilisa Romanov's Daughter?" He asks and she smiles nodding. "You know, I could tell you stories of your mother and you wouldn't look at her the same way. But knowing what she can do, I'll keep it to myself out of fear and respect" He says smiling as if in remembrance and she is taken back.

"What do you mean?"

"Your mother and I grew up together. She is… was a very good friend of mine" He says as a sense of sadness seems to hit him as his eyes dim.

"Well I came to check on you guys to make sure everything is okay" She says looking at Ron and Hermione who still look a little rustled and very pale Harry who is eating chocolate, she smiles softly at him and her shoulders go limp. "I'm glad nobody is terribly hurt, I'll see you guys at the feast. And I look forward to a proper Defence against the dark arts class with you, Professor" She says referring to the ridiculous fiasco of the previous year with the fake Professor Lockhart.

Waving goodbye with her fingers she heads back down the the corridor, fear weighed heavy in the back of her mind, Dementors were not like anything she had experienced before and she had seen many creatures while along the side of her father. Finally she sees the trolley lady standing at an opened compartment, white blond hair poking around the corner as she passes Malfoy a packet of chocolate firebombs, sighing she strides over smiling at the trolley lady and looks over the woman's shoulder at the variety of sweets.

"May I have a pack of assorted sour strips, a bottle of pumpkin juice and…" Biting her lip she feels the craving for something but can't place it.

" _Raspberry taffy_?" She hears Malfoy say under his breath as he leans on the frame of the compartment door as he pulls a licorice strip, ripping it with his teeth. He keeps his head cast down but his eyes drifts to her face with a sort of knowing expression, her mind clicks as he nails her craving a light bulb going off as her stomach agrees and she nods.

"Yes, assorted sour strips, pumpkin juice, and 150g of raspberry salt water taffy please" She says in a polite and happy tone and the lady fetches her order and Nina pulls her money out and holds it in her palm as she waits. Feeling uncomfortable as Malfoy's eye stay on her, in her awkward feeling she lifts her hand and moves her hair with her knuckles and looks out the dark window, Malfoy straightens up and Nina pays for her things and steps out of the way as the trolley lady continues down the hall.

"I'm going to change, I'll be back" She hears Malfoy's voice become muffled as she distances herself from him, as she enters the compartment she had been invited into by Vance and Diana she puts her things on the seat before feeling a hand grab the back of her shirt and she is dragged out, down the hall she stumbles as she turns around as the one who grabbed her refuses to release her. Making it to the changing section of the compartment she whips around and huffs, pulling her shirt down and straightening out the creases of her blouse.

"What is your problem Malfoy!" Nina snaps and flicks her head, her hair going back into place behind her shoulders.

"What the hell happened to your face, Volkov" He says stepping closer and moving her bangs to the side to expose her bruised forehead, her breath catching as he gets close to examine it and she presses her lips together. "Well? Are you going to tell me? Or shall I make fun of you." He says with a rather annoyed tone, his worry was of slight surprise to her but the fact they knew each other for pretty much their entire life give or take a year, worry was bound to come up for either of them when something happened to the other.

"When the Dementors boarded and the train stopped I fell onto the corridor floor." She says looking to the side in embarrassment.

"Well at least, no lasting damage was done. You already struggle with basic class work, you don't need a disability to add to it" He says rather straight faced but the amusement could be heard in his tone.

"Well Mr Malfoy, if you have forgotten I almost beat your scores last year, if I had done better in potions I would have." She says bitterly.

"Yes well you couldn't boil water let alone make a simple potion, so I have no worries." He says and his mouth twitches into a smirk.

"You don't have to be so rude about it you know." She says pouting and his thumb strokes the purple skin.

"True, but where is the fun in that~" He says softly before stepping back. "I have to change, so unless you'd like to join me~ Go back to your compartment, you should also change soon since this place will be flooded soon." He says looking over her shoulder down the hall.

"Yes well, you get ready." She says turning and starting down the hall with her arms crossed.

"Antonina!" She hears him say her name quickly and she stops and turns to look at him, his arm extended towards her as he points at her, his face a deep pink as he visibly presses his lips together.

"Yes?" She says blinking in curiosity and he drops his arm.

"I- I apologize for my earlier comment. It was out of hand" He says softly and she smiles and looks at the ground shaking her head.

"It's no problem, but I appreciate the apology" She says and her warm grey eyes flash up and meet his icy eyes, turning she continues down the hall, warm feeling filling her chest as she enters the compartment with Diana and Vance.

"What does _Malfoy_ want?" Vance says sneering at the name as his sharp eyes narrow.

"His family and my family are close, he was scolding me for getting hurt" She says and sits on the seat with a huff as she leans her head back and let's out a long sigh, a soft hum rings in the small compartment as Vance slides the door shut with his foot as he lounges across the seat causing Diana to move and sit next to Nina, Nina recognized the turn from her mother listening to a muggle radio station over the summer. She leans her forehead against the chilled window and sits in the comfort of her new friends.

"So if you're close with the Malfoy's, what's your relationship with their revolting son?" Vance says, also relaxing as they let Diana continue.

"Well, Draco and I use to do our studies together, when I was younger my parents were always gone with work and such, so I was sent to the Malfoy manor to be looked after, we were play mates. On rainy days we would sit under a gazebo hidden behind the malfoy manor, actually we would laugh at the white peacocks that live on the grounds of the manor run around to hide from the cold rain." Nina says laughing as she recalls the memories fondly. "We would sit in our cloaks and just be in the company of the other... Draco picked up his nasty personality young, when Crabbe and Goyal would come over, they would tease me and pull my hair out of It's ribbons" She didn't want to mention he went as far as to cut a majority of her hair off. "They would usually end up getting my dress dirty. So in result, my visits became more spaced until I just didn't go anymore. Then school started and I befriended Harry potter, so I am forced to acknowledge that blonde haired git" She says as if a bitter taste had taken over her mouth, she was a lying, she ended up not going all in one day and she was bitter towards Draco for the first two years of school, but this year already seemed different since he actually apologized.

"There must be something else! You wouldn't stop seeing the family would you?" Diana says and Nina felt as if she could trust them.

"He did always apologize after Crabbe and Goyle left, and he would try to help. But one day they cut my hair with a pair of scissors and I had to have my hair cut incredibly short. It was long and always in braids or pinned nicely in the morning by my mother when she had time, Malfoy came up behind me and the two boys urged him on and he ended up doing it. From that day on I was convinced he was cruel and not worthy of my time." She says smirking as the thought comes to mind, she wondered if he remembered or thought of those days.

"We should get ready, Diana has to break off when we get off the train. She has choir to do" Vance says poking her in the rib as they stand and she elbows him.

On the carriage ride the three new friends spoke about Black and his escape, and when they arrive at the school the choir disappears and Nina finds herself very much alone as Vance gets pulled away by his Ravenclaw friends. Nina realized just how little she socialized in the last few years, her third year and she was on top of her studies but only had a hand full of. Even then she was always busy, Hermione was on top but still had time for friends and was top of every class. Nina had kept her head down and in the books, her parents expected the best and she wanted to do her best for them more than herself. She walks into the hall and her robe makes her feel like home, as she goes and sits at the table full if Gryffindors, she knew all of them but just never had a proper conversation with them. She sits and smiles as they greet her, the Weasleys and all the other Gryffindors that were happy to be back.

Nina plates hot wings and honey garlic wings, a moan of satisfaction leaving her lungs and her eyes roll back into her head as she bites deeply into the meat, earning a few awkward looks from the Gryffindors around her she just looks at them with glossy eyes.

"I don't get to eat this kind of food at home!" She defends herself as she shoves a curly french fry in her mouth, the noise coming from her once more as delight shoots up her spine. Soon Dumbledore stands at his owl pedestal. He speaks kindly of our new teacher for DADA classes as well as Hagrid becoming the magical creature teacher, which everyone at Gryffindor was more than thrilled to hear.

"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light." His words are full of wisdom and it made the room calm as everyone remained quiet as they allow their headmaster to speak, soon he walks back to his spot in the center of all the teachers. Nina finished rather quickly, running her fingers through her bangs and pull them back before they fall back into the side swept position, the activities of the evening catching up with her as her limbs feel heavy, her year was booked full of classes and the year would be more packed if she made the quidditch team. Standing when the students were allowed to head for their comomrooms, she makes it to the stairs before she feels someone link their arms with hershe placed his hand on her forearm keeping her next to him.

"Hey sweetlips. let's go for a walk!" He says not really giving her a choice, he pulls her along and she feels him pull her off to the side they head deep into the first floor of the castle, there are a few people ahead of them but they disappear into a room which he soon pulls her into, there they find an assortment of people from different years and houses. He pulls her deeper into the room and they meet up with Diana.

"Okay before anything else happens! what is going on" Nina says to them and the two of them laugh.

"This is for the first night of the year! We get together and we all have fun. Loosen up and get to know each other better, we have one of these get togethers every year" Diana answers her question and Nina decided to go with it, expanding her friendships is something she needed.

So she sits next to the broad shouldered girl and smiles brightly as they begin to share stories of their years growing up.


	7. Azkaban 5

Nina made her way to the morning's double potions, Gryffindor mixed with Slytherins, how delightful. The heels of her shoes click against the floor as she keeps her head up, she was deep in thought as her three Gryffindor friends talk about who knows what, she wasn't paying attention. Soon the four students were at the door of the class, Nina quickly strode to her usual spot at the Gryffindor table, her spot was well placed, she only had to look up to see the board and not have to strain her neck when taking notes, she could see all points of the class and could be seen when her hand was raised. Her usual partner was Hermione who sat next to her, between the two of them they got an ' _okay'_ potion more often than not. It wasn't up to either of their standards but they got it done, and it didn't blow up like Finnigan's.

She sits and puts her book in front of her before running her hands through her hair, pulling it back and wrapping up the thick strands into a tight bun. Professor Snape told everyone what was needed and where to get it.

Malfoy walks in halfway through the class with his arm still in a sling, her eyes narrow in irritation on how dramatic he is being over a scratch. It should be fine by now, maybe a bandage, but not a full cast and a sling. She sits and expects him to pass her without a glance but, he walks down the Aisle and then places a small note on her table. The dark ink can be seen through the thin piece of paper, the elegant writing seeming over the top with swirls and long strokes. Nina taps the paper with her wand, with the flick of her wrist she uses the.

"Incendio" She says clearly and the paper catches fire, quickly consuming the paper before dying out, she swipes the ashes off her table and to the floor, she could feel the cold stare on the back of her head. She honestly didn't care, Malfoy had been pushing his father about the hippogryph, and his father was acting on it. Nina was furious when Hermione told her that morning, they had been keeping it a secret from her and old told her because Harry slipped up when they were talking, so she had little to no patience for anyone that day.

She opens her book and rests on her hand, her eyes lazily scanning the paper, soon Snape walking in and turns to the class putting his hands on his desk looking at the late slytherin boy, yet he does nothing about it.

"Today we are making the Wide Eye potion, Found on page 72. That must not be difficult for someone with such vast knowledge in potions" He says with a sour expression towards Malfoy, he obviously knew Snape was addressing him, by the snarky grin that becomes plastered to his face.

"We had a partner exchange, to allow our houses to get along better. Dumbledore wants each Gryffindor with a Slytherin... so Mr Malfoy you will be paired with the Gryffindor who quite desperately needs a hand in my class. Mrs Volkov who has already begun the potion rather poorly I might add, I expect you to show her how to fix it. That won't be a problem will it" As he finishes speaking Malfoy picks up his bag and moves over to the chair next to Nina.

"No sir" He says and sits next to her, a bitterness in his tone.

Everyone was with their partners, Parkinson and Hermione, Harry and Goyal, While Ron was stuck with Flora Carrow.

Nina kept quiet for most of the class, both working together but he would grab her hand if she was about to do anything, he added 6 snake fangs into the mortar to crush.

"Gently! Crush these, until they are a fine powder" He says and stirs the cauldron.

"How are you suppose to crush them AND be gentle. It will take forever!" She says huffing but does as he says.

"Twist the end of the pestle, It works faster. And you have to learn to be patient, you are really terrible at it" He mutters and his nose twitches in irritation as she twists her wrist to help with the process.w

"We may have done studies together, but we didn't learn the same things" She replies with a cool and gently voice, trying to keep from snapping on the boy.

"Yes… well it's also the reason you've ever learned an instrument." He says softly and the two end up keeping words short for the rest of the class. She would do things that involved both hands and he would watch and make comments about her needing to be better about it, or faster. But soon enough they were done, they had to wait until the next day before the potion would be done and they were dismissed first while everyone else were still only half done.

She moves past him quickly and out the door and down the hall, Snape's words dwelling on her mind on how she "rather poorly" started the potion, and Malfoy bringing up one of the flaws she already knew.

Her robes moving quickly behind her with each movement, she was tired from the previous night because Malfoy kept her there, she apparently was getting things wrong in her notes, which he was more than happy to fix.

She made her way to the dining hall, where she threw her bag on the table next to Diana who was listening to her regular music and going over a book.

"Nina…"

"Yes?" Nina drew her words out as she slumps down at the Hufflepuff table and puts her elbows on the table as her legs stretch out into the aisle between the tables.

"those three fortune tellers… the ones from the Greek mythology." Diana continues but soon trails off.

"The Moirai? They aren't fortune tellers, but Yeah, what about them?" Nina says and turns her head to her friend.

"It starts talking about them on this page but then they drop the subject." Diana says hitting the book and Nina smiles.

"Flip three pages forward, there should be a four page section that tells you all you need to know about them. But that essay is due, tomorrow. You know that right?" Nina says smiling in glee as her friend quickly flips the pages and almost tears the pages out as she quickly begins to read over the paragraphs.

"Yes, well… After the last game, the captain has been pushing us twice as hard in practice. So I haven't had time." She says and Nina makes a noise of amused disbelief.

But soon Nina began to complain about the entire afternoon with the Slytherins with great detail and volume, pacing back and forth before Malfoy comes in with his groupies and the sit at the table behind her. She and Draco holding quite the intense stare, she sits down with a huff and crosses her arms her face twisted into both anger and sadness as his words wear heavy on her mind.

"I swear one of these days, the two of you are just going to screw each other openly on the teacher's dining table" Diana said rather disgusted by the thought as she erupts into a violent shiver that lasts only a moment, Nina's face lights up like a firecracker and she puts her head down, her arms going over her head. Ron, Hermione and Harry enter the great hall, sitting across from them.

"What happened to you? You look like the time Ginny and I got sunburn." Ron says noticing how red Nina's face is.

Before anyone could say anything they hear Parkinson crying over Malfoy who was being dramatic.

"Does it hurt Draco?" She says sitting right up against him and running her fingers down his bicep.

"By the stars! he is really dragging this one out" Nina says as her eyes roll back in her head.

"You think?" Vance snorts and enters, he sits next to Diana and leans on her. "Oh! The Moirai? I love them, It was my favorite part of divination… Actually it was the only part I enjoyed about that class." He says and reads over Diana's shoulder.

•◆•

Nina stood behind Ron as they inch forward in line, people ahead of the two Gryffindors casting the Riddikulus charm. Nina was interested to see what her fear was, she was scared of a lot of things so it really could be anything.

The class shuffles at a quick pace as she swallows hard, she is grinning in amusement as the boggart twists and turns it's shape, she waits in

"Antonina! Pochemu vy sutulit'sya! You korseta ne dostatochno plotno ! Vy dolzhny byt' sovershennym , vy Romanov!" Nina shrinks back, her pupils matching the diameter of a needle, the words being shouted just barely register in her mind. The stern looking woman hits her cane against the floor as her eyes burn though Nina, freezing her for a solid minute.

"Riddikulus!" She shouts and flicks her wrist, she quickly walked down the line with her head down, she gripped her wand with white knuckles and she looked up just to see the pressed lips and knowing look she was receiving from Malfoy. She felt so caught up in her own thoughts, she missed a scene between Lupin, Harry and the Boggart.

"Alright that's enough for today! Grab your things. We will continue on a later date" Lupin says and sits down huffing and looking drained. Everyone else grabs their things and file out, Nina grabs her bag, wanting to be far from the class and the unease continues to sit upon her shoulders.

Leaving with the rest of the class, her books under her arm and her head down. She was thinking hard, her eyes unfocused in thought as the red carpet was like a ands blur, she didn't notice Malfoy and his gang blocking her, so as expected bumped into him and took a few steps back to catch herself.

"Oh sorry! I wa-" She says quickly before looking up and meeting his gaze, her apologetic and happy eyes narrow, her shoulders relaxing in a sassy sort of way. "Actually never mind, you don't deserve it" she says and goes to push past him, she feels the strong firm grip of Crabbe as he shoves her back, as she pushes her back and she licks her sharp canines, which she usually did when faced with irritation.

"So you got on the quidditch team, eh? Good, I'm looking forward to beating your ass like old times" Malfoy says swaggering forward a few steps so he is in front of her and tilts his nose up, his mother's looks peek though as he almost perfectly mimics her look of disgusted. "Good luck getting your head cracked open, I'll make sure to have a camera so I can show Mother how you lose the game for Gryffindor" He says playing with a curly stray hair that fell down her face, she slaps his hand away and gives him a blank look.

"Well, I promise if I do any worse than your poor excuse of a team, and we lose against slytherin… I will do anything you say for a week. But I have good faith considering the last time you went against us, the snitch was right above your head and you missed it. So I look forward to crushing you, you hob nibbling git" she says jabbing at his bad arm with her books before hitting it rather hard, shoving past him and his goons before he had a chance to recover.

•◆•

_Nina stands next to one of the many gigantic windows, all draped elegantly with a green blue fabric, it matched all couches and chairs in the room of her family's library. The normally bright room was dark and the air was thick, she hears the loud clicks of a woman's heels upon the floor, she has the uncomfortable feeling of being watched as she quickly realizes she is being circled._

" _Straighter!" The voice cries and Nina feels a sharp sting on her lower back, she bites her tongue and stands taller. "Chin higher!" She feels the same pain but along her jaw, the warm liquid metal taste sliding over dry mouth._

" _Aunt E-" Nina began to speak but she pain hits her stomach and she whimpers._

" _Ladies only speak when spoken to! How many times must I tell you!" The woman shouts and Nina nods quickly, scared that she would feel the sting of the cane once more. The curtain is opened and Nina is blinded, she covers her eyes and grits her teeth, when she opens her eyes she is sitting at a piano. "Elbows up!" The voice says again and her underarm is smacked and she lifts her arms as her fingers rest upon the keys. "Wrong! You must always start with your fingers ready on the first notes!" The piano makes a loud and deep sound as Nina fingers are swatted, she closes her eyes tight, wanting it to end, she opens her eyes she is sitting at a long table, she sits alone at the head of the table and six seats down on either side, sit three bodies, two of the faces blurred but the third she recognizes as the same woman tormenting her._

" _Eleanora… please" One of the voices is soft and pleading but the woman shakes her head._

" _She is much too plump, she can eat lunch tomorrow. Ladies must be pretty, thin, doll like. A Romanov Pureblood must be perfect. They must be envied by all, and Nina is your successor and if all goes well, the next in line for the throne." the woman says and Nina stands_

_"Riddikulus" she cried but nothing happened_

" _HA! Foolish girl!" Her aunt says amused but her face still like stone._

_"Riddikulus...Riddikulus... RIDDIKULUS!" Panic setting in as the woman approaches slowly._

_"DO AS YOU ARE TOLD! YOU ARE A PUREBLOOD!"_

Screaming she sits up, panting loudly and kicking away the blankets as she crawls against the headboard in a blind panic, A good majority of the Gryffindor girls crowded around her bed, a few minutes later McGonagall comes in with Ginny close behind. The older woman's face drops as she sees the usually composed girl in shambles, Nina slowly stood from her bed as the woman held out her hand.

"Oh my dear, please come with me, the rest of you back to bed… immediately!" She demands and the other girls scramble to bed, while Nina slips on her slippers and slowly steps across the room, McGonagall takes her arm and leads her from the room and out of the Gryffindor common room. Nina's shiny dark green night gown flowing behind her, she wouldn't be caught dead wearing this around anyone that wasn't the girls she shared her room with, if anyone else saw her in those colours hey would think she was rooting for the slytherin team.

Nina half runs as she struggles to keep up with the long and quick strides of her house teacher, down all the stairs of the grand staircase, though the basement and into the dungeons.

"Why are we in the here?" Nina asks as they pass torches lighting the dark halls of the dungeon.

"We are going to see if Professor Snape has any sleeping tonics to help with dreams. If I remember correctly you do get bad dreams often enough to ask Snape of this small task." She says and soon they are walking into the potions class to see her potions professor sitting at his desk and Malfoy at a cauldron taking notes and seeming to be tampering with a potion. Both the males are startled as the two Gryffindors enter the room, Malfoy sees McGonagall but then his eyes land on Nina, smirk crossing his face as he eyes her nightgown, his eyebrow arched in question.

"You wouldn't happen to have any of those tonics you gave to Mr Carton last year do you? Mrs Volkov here has been having sleeping trouble" she says walking in and Nina stands at the door, her eyes jetting around the room as she tries to avoid the keen eyes that seem to be drilling into her skull. Her eyes glance at the fair haired male is leaning on his hand with a smug grin stretched across his face, using the hand he was resting his chin on, he motions her over with two fingers.

"Why are you here?" She asks approaching the boy, sitting across from him.

"Experimenting, Tampering… Learning" He says snickering at first but soon becomes genuine, he stirs the sweet smelling brew he was making and then sitting back down to look over his book, using his quill to write down the steps he just did, the familiar writing just as dramatic and mesmerizing to look at.

"you know… they say all boys have bad handwriting" She says quietly and puts her head down oh her and closes her eyes, dozing off slightly. She is woken by Malfoy, who shakes her and his face is hard to make out from how dark it is but his eyebrows are pulled together in a distressed expression. He stands up and pulls her out of the room while the teachers aren't looking, he pushes her up against the wall and starts to undo his buttons on his shirt. Pale skin is exposed farther as she sees his collarbones, she goes to speak but a silver shimmers in the low light of the hall as he pulls off the chain and puts it over her head.

"I must say, I wasn't surprised to see your aunt… take care of this for me." he speaks softly and backs up and he does up the buttons to his shirt looking at her and going back in the class.

She is stunned as she feels the oddly warm metal on her skin, she feels it right under her nightgown collar her hands rest on her stomach as she feels her heart start beating as if it had stopped. She waits a few moments before entering the room again.

"You're in luck Mrs Volkov... a few drops of this and you shall be asleep and dreamless, if by chance your nightmares do plan on invading your... beauty sleep. Though I'm sure with your fear of bunnies, I'm sure you'll be needing more" Snape says as she walks over and he places a small clear, oval shaped vial with a cloudy gold liquid moving within.

"Thank you professor... I really appreciate it." She says smiling and picking it up before turning with McGonagall who stands at the door, she walks behind Malfoy and her hand brushes his back, he grasps her hand and holds it for a moment before releasing it and letting her continue.

A complicated boy and a complicated girl, born for luxury and power but bred into tragedy where people could unite only if circumstances allowed it. The two of them couldn't be friends, her aunt made sure to drill it into her young mind, how her life was going to play out


	8. Azkaban 6

_"Draco! Draaaco" running down the hallway on the back of the malfoy manor, the little girl skips and runs down the halls lit brightly with sunlight. Her long hair trails behind her as her goal is obvious, she had to find her friend and win the game, the game that they had started while his mother was busy sorting through papers from the library and the children had a break from their studies. So Nina had the idea of hide and seek and in result Draco had disappeared in the house making Nina annoyed but she soon got over it, now she was looking high and low for the boy she was fond of and was growing up with. She came to the large double doors of the ballroom and she skipped past it before coming to a stop and slowly turns looking at the gilded gold and white double doors, the arch way above giving it a fairytale look and she slowly hopped to the doors. She stands right up against the door and grabs the handle for the left door, leaning back she looks down either way of the hall before creeping in. Immediately her mind is engulfed by the beauty of the room she spins and let's the amazement take over her whole being as the light bounces of the mirror walls._

"Mrs Volkov, Dear" The mystical voice of Professor Trelawney voice pulls Nina from her sweet memory and Nina sits up with embarrassment as Diana sits next to her doing the same but she was snoring gently.

"Y- Yes professor?" Nina says gaining her composure and blinks repeatedly to remove the sleep from her eyes.

"Did you figure out what was in the cup?" The professor asks and Nina shakes her head feeling bad for not doing her work.

"Would you?" She asks and holds her hand out and looks at the teacup on her table, slowly Nina picks up the cup and places it in the woman's hand and almost as if it was blatantly obvious she frowns. "Oh my, it seems you are in for quite the storm. Mind your legs." Trelawney says softly and hands Nina back the cup with sad eyes. When Nina receives the cup she peers into it and pulls the open book from under Diana's elbow and her head hit the table waking her quickly. Nina quickly tries to match the shapes she sees to the readings descriptions in the book

"How does this… how-" She heard a loud noise, making her jump and drop her cup upside down over the book and she reacts by hitting the cup off her book and quickly sitting it up to dry, she earns a snicker from the Slytherin table just behind her where Malfoy and Goyle sit.

"It's, the Grimm!" Trelawney cries and Nina turns around to look at the source as she feels a paper hit her on the shoulder making her turn her head to where a neatly folded paper sits on the table before her, picking it up she looks at the paper unimpressed and then her eyes flick up to who threw it. Malfoy grins at her and points at the paper in her fingers, groaning under her breath she slowly unfolds the paper and a rather well done drawing of her sleeping peacefully while the teacher has their back to her, blabbering on and holds a crystal ball high into the air. The paper was charmed so her shoulders would rise and fall gently and Diana was also drawn in but she was drooling over the table and it dripped off the side, she rather liked the drawing and the charm was well done but she couldn't give him the satisfaction so she crumples it up while keeping her eyes on him, a cold gaze holding his as his face twists into a somber expression as she tosses it over her shoulder and returns to listening to what Trelawney was saying to her friend but she missed it and she hissed in annoyance as the class was soon dismissed for lunch.

Nina waited a little longer to pack up and sat until the room was virtually empty before turning around and picking up the paper, she uncrumpled it and places it in her book to straighten out the creases before placing it in her bag. She begins to quickly descend the stairs that seemed to go on forever and almost fell over as someone steps out from one of the blind spots where the windows were. If it wasn't for the arm that wrapped around her stomach she would have gone face first down the many stairs left to go down.

"Looky here, I caught me a lady bird~" the coo causes a shiver to run up her spine, she uses her arms and shoves the person back into the crevice where they came from.

"And looks like I've found a snake" She says bitterly and straightens out her robes.

"I just saved you, you could be more polite" He sneers and she snorts and looks at him disapprovingly.

"If it weren't for you I wouldn't need saving!" She snaps and flicks her head so her hair goes back into place.

"Mmm, that is true but I still could have let you tumble down those stairs and potentially _die_ " He says and straightens out his own robes before leaning on the wall and eyes her with an indifferent expression. "How is your head feeling?" He suddenly asks with a soft tone.

"It's fine, I get dizzy if I turn too fast but otherwise I'm fine. I didn't hit it too hard." She replies and leans on the railing, she didn't mind their recent and rare conversations that they would have when nobody was around. If anyone was around he would be snobbish and rude and she would return the tone, but sometimes they would walk together and exchange few words, they had only been halfway into their first day of classes and they were already walking together.

"That was a total waste of time" He says fixing his bag over his shoulder and sneering. "She said I should watch out for my arm!" He snaps, obviously irritated and she could tell by his facial features that he felt threatened by the _prediction._

"Well as ridiculous as it sounds… Predictions are sometimes nice to listen too, they could possibly help you avoid things in the future." She says softly and he scoffs.

"Yeah? Well I still think she is daft and a phonie. She might as well be sacked right now" He says smirking and she looks at him angered and she glares at him.

"What is your problem! Why are you such a parky prick!" She replies and they reach the bottom of the stairs and he rolls his eyes dramatically in response.

"Don't lie Volkov, you're thinking the same thing!" He glances at her, speaking proudly as if she was an open book. She turns on him and her nose crinkles like she had smelled something foul.

"Well for your information, Malfoy!" She snaps quickly, reviving only a response of complete bewilderment. "Not everyone is as bitter and judgemental as you, so I would be oh so grateful if you would not compare myself to you!" She says quickly before turning on her heel and quickly makes her way down the hall and soon into the warm and inviting air of the great hall.

•◆•

Antonina starts on her way to Hagrid's hut, thankful that the air was warmed by the high midday sun, she was happy that she had to venture out of the castle to go to class; well until the air got colder. Class was being held by Hagrid and all the students were told to go to his hut for their lessons, which gained a few inappropriate jokes from the Slytherins.

As she struts down the hill to his house she feels her body get shoved once causing her to stumble, but before she regains her balance just to be shoved twice more making her completely lose her balance and fall forward rolling twice before stopping herself with her arms in a planking position, if she hadn't she would have completely rolled down the hill making a complete fool of herself. When she looks up she sees the awful haircut of Pansy Parkinson, her snide puckered lips making Nina want to rip them off. Nina stands up and dusts off before looking at Pansy and her friends, she was just like Malfoy but female.  
"I see the happy couple has finally gotten matching haircuts" Nina says rather blankly as she picks off pieces of grass that were stuck to her robes.  
She hears a chuckle as Draco swaggers down the hill behind the girl, he turns Pansy around as he wraps his arm around her waist and he slides his fingers along her jaw holding her close.  
"That would make you happy wouldn't it? Volkov~ But could you imagine the deeds we could pull if something like that were to happen." Malfoy says pushing Parkinson away emotionlessly and walking down the slanted hill to where Nina stands, a smirk sliding over his lips. He puts his finger under her chin and makes her look up into his chilly grey eyes, the storm clouds shimmer in his eyes as the silver flecks reflect light like flashes of lightning, the slate grey around the iris causing an almost hypnotic effect. His voice beginning and hitting her like a deep thunder, his voice a low rumble as he whispers so only she could hear.  
"Then again...you would also have to worry about falling for me. Because I know are revolted by me, and how cliché would that be~" Draco says with a smirk as he allows a french tone to lace his and Nina feels a rage boil in her gut, and she snarls at him before shoving him back, he falls into his ass and a furious grunt is heard before he quickly stumbles to his feet like a peacock who's lost its balance. "You blighter! No wonder my father stopped associating himself with you and your pillock family!" Malfoy sneers and Nina stands completely unchanged.  
"Your crude words mean nothing to me you slimy git, so you, and those idiots you call friends and get your nasty mugs far away from me" she replies to him with a snide tone and Malfoy grips the handle of his wand, his teeth gritting together his eyes showing anger but also an inner conflict.  
"Go away Malfoy" Harry voice cuts through the air, he is followed by Diana, Hermione and Ron, her friends come to her side protectively as Nina feels empowered as her group out numbers Malfoy, Parkinson and her two friends. Nina feels gratitude wash over her as the worry of the Slytherins ganging up on her disappears. She knew Malfoy couldn't do anything to her, he wouldn't risk his mother rage since with her dissapointment his fathers would soon father, who she knew he was scared of both his father's disappointment and his wrath. Malfoy was intelligent and very witty, he could make plans with little information and carry them out with extreme percision, which impressed her. So she knew he was weighing his options, he ended up dropping his arm and she could see his knuckles turn white as he clenches his empty fist. He and soon shoves past them and she laughs as they move down the hill with harmed pride.  
"Thanks, I don't know what I would have done if you didn't show up. But we have a class to make it to!" She says and wraps her arms around Ron and Diana's arms as she runs down the hill. As they approach the group of people standing in front of the hut and Hagrid stood tall but the nervousness radiated off him in waves.  
"A'right follow me, I have a special treat for today" and the group of kids walk behind him, following Hagrid down a long path. Nina noticed both hoof prints and talon marks, she felt her mind explode with excitement after she thinks hard of what it could be and soon comes to a conclusion, she runs up to Hagrid and walks quickly trying to keep up with the half giant.  
"How did you get one!? Is there more than one?" She whispers excitedly asking many questions before he puts his hand on her head.  
"I should'r known ye'd figure it out before we even got ther'... I have twelv' if yer must know. My most well behaved" hagrid says boastfully, they finally come to a clearing and Hagrid stands with his hands on his sides. "Now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books" and everyone stops, nobody knew how to open the violent spider like books.  
"How?" The bitter voice of Draco is heard over the silence of the class.  
"What?" Hagrid replied with a confused look, as he turns to the Slytherin who had a genuine question for once.  
"How _do_ we open our books" The white haired pureblood repeats and holds his book up, it tied together with a thick belt like binding holding it closed. Nina strokes her magical creatures book looking at everyone as she thought the solution was obvious as purring sound is very faint, notifying her that it is calm enough to open, she watched the talking between Malfoy and Hagrid, some students noticed her action as her book fell open limply in her hand and they copied her action.  
"H- Hasn' any of yeh been able ter open their books?" Hagrid replied and then he sighs and grabs Hermione's book and turns it over running his large finger and then removes the tab binding it closed and hands it to her. "Yeh've got ter stroke em" hagrid says as Hermione instantly begins to go over the writing in her book.  
"Oh how silly of us! We should have known, we have to stroke them! Why didn't we guess" Draco sneers loudly and Harry is the first to speak up, telling him to be quiet but not in a very nice way. Hagrid disappears to go gather the treat he was so eager to show everyone.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out" She mumbles and flips through her book. She feels her spine lock up as Malfoy cries out and points up towards the sky.

"Dementor! Dementor!" She heard Draco exclaimed and everyone turning to see he was pulling a fast one, everyone turned back to him and his friends with their hoods over their heads and all of them pretending to be the horrible monsters that might as well be the mascots for death. She opens her book that she had shut in surprise, finding the right page she forcefully slammed it on one of the stone wall in a huff, the wall holding her book like a table, she hears Hagrid make an trumpet noise as he tries to make the entrance dramatic.  
"Say hello to th' hippogryphs!" He says smiling pridefully and she hears worry in Ron voice as he pipes up.  
"Hagrid... what exactly are those things?" Ron says with wide eyes as they are locked on the grey creature.  
"It's a hippogryph!" Nina says jumping in excitedly, completely forgetting Malfoy's stunt as the fear is replaced with wonder, her eyes glossy with excitement as they travel behind the first hippogryph to where eleven more stand tall.  
"Who wants to be the first to say hello?" Everyone then backs up but Harry didn't realize, leaving him and Nina standing in front of the crowd as if stepping forward.  
"Ah 'arry yer can go firs', since I'm pretty sure Mrs Antonina 'ere has already had the pleasure of meeting such a beast."  
"Actually I've only ever had the chance to meet a Peryton and a few others that have passed through my family's stables..." she says with a mixture eagerness and jealousy causing a pressure on her chest. But Harry has the chance and she gets to watch as he goes through the whole process of bowing, and petting and then hagrid puts him on the back and slaps buckbeak's hind end and they fly off. Everyone waits before hagrid gives the cue, pairing up and matching the class each with their own hippogryphs, Nina is paired up with a quite angry looking blue coloured hippogryph named fleetwing but she goes through the process slowly. Ending up with a hippogryph leaning its head on her shoulder as she turns her back to it, she pets the beak of the magnificent creature and observes the rest of the class. Buckbeak landed and Malfoy was paired up with the recently returned hippogryph, Nina watched as Draco bowed to the beautiful creature their stubborn personalities clashing from the beginning, she watched as they stared the other down.  
"I knew it must have been easy if Potter could do it! ... I bet you aren't even dangerous at all... are you, ya big ugly Chicken" Draco says with a snort, all in the matter of a second Hagrid had pulled buckbeak back and Malfoy laid curled up with blood all over his robes, Nina knew it was bound to happen, but as Hagrid hurried passed her she noticed the only injury he had was a gash on his arm.  
"I'm dying! It's killed me!" Malfoy makes sure to make a huge scene, acting as if he had been attacked mercilessly and . Nina heard Hagrid call back to her and ask her to please make sure they were all locked up, the rest of the class hurrying to the castle as Malfoy cries out with half hearted sobs. Nina turns to the hippogryph next to her and runs her fingers up its feathers, smoothing out the already smooth and we'll tended feathers.

"Do you think I could get your help putting all your friends away?" She asks calmly and it snorts and paws at the ground nodding it's head. And she takes the time to go through the process with each hippogryph, bowing and waiting to pet them. Time consuming but worth it, she picked up their chains one by one and locked them up to a post to make sure nothing happened, she moved and sat on the ground in front of them all. Some lay down and some sit or stand, she examines each one before her eyes land on the one that hurt Malfoy. "You know... that wasn't really needed, no matter how much he deserved it" she says and buckbeak knows who she is addressing as it snorts and shakes it's head believing otherwise. "I know he can say hurtful things, and be quite awful at time but he does have a...tolerable side. But in a way I guess you are the karma that has been building up, huh" she stands up and dusts off her rear straightening her robes and such before smiling. "I just hope he doesn't get his father into this." She frowns "He on the other hand is quite transparent, he won't be kind" her hands rest on the stone for a moment before she puts her book in her bag before slinging it over her shoulder turning back to the hippogryphs. "It was nice meeting you all, I hope to see you again soon." She then starts off to the castle, she was going to put her stuff away and go to the pitch early to practice. She needed all the practice she could get, if she had any hopes of getting on the team.


	9. Azkaban 7

"It's your own fault you know." Nina mumbled as she leaned on her hand, her eyes resting on the pale haired boy as his bandage was being replaced by Madame Pomfrey.

"Yeah, sure. I didn't do _anything_ that horrible duck attacked me! Potter probably did something to provoke it." He snarls and holds his arm up. "Why are you here anyway." He says as he let's his arm drop, he had been in the hospital wing for two days now and he had been whining the entire time.

"Your mother asked me to bring you" Pausing she opens her bag and pulls a metal tin and tosses it on the bed next to him. "These, candies or something. She was quite annoyed about receiving the news, she is out for blood." Nina continues and moves her bangs to the side, pinning them with a barrette before crossing her legs and leans on her hand again.

"Well I hope she gets it! Mother is good that way" He says grinning to himself and he slides his arm back into his sleeve before doing up his shirt but fumbles with the buttons as the thick bandages make it hard, so in result Nina kneels before him as he sits on the bed and she does up the small buttons as he blows his hair from his face.

"Well it's not like you're dead! You shouldn't wish such horrible things, people will think poorly of you." She says angrily and pokes his chest hard and he grunts and puts his hand to his chest.

"I will do as I wish, and you can't stop me" He says gripping her wrist as he snatches her hand and stares her down.

"Then you will be very depressed and alone, so you can sit in here all on your own! Mr tall, blonde and revolting!" She snaps and rips her hand from his as she stands and turns on her heel in a snit. She made it a few feet before she hears an ill tempered huff of air.

"Wait! Please, I can't stand it in here. It's too quiet and I have nobody to entertain me." His voice is bitter, like he had been given a medicine he was told tasted good but ended up being tart and caused his face to scrunch up. Turning her body so she can look over her shoulder she sees the normally well trimmed male, his hair messy and jetting in every which way, bags under his eyes from not sleeping well, he normally slept on his side or stomach just like she did, but with his arm in its condition it was uncomfortable and laying on his back kept him up.

"Why should I? hmm?"" The snarky tone causes him to roll his eyes back into his head.

"Mmm because my mother asked you to, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to make her upset, would you?" His voice was unsure but his face looked unwavering as his lips curled into a taunting expression. Not wanting to fight she slumps back down into the chair she had just been sitting in. "So you really think I'm tall?" He speaks in pure glee at the thought of being taller than her.

"A lot of people are taller than me." She states plainly and grabs the tin from beside him, the contents clattering loudly within, she opens it to reveal cookies and brightly wrapped candies, his face twists into a sour and grumpy expression as she bite into what seemed to be a sugar cookie and closes the lid again. Her teeth sting and her jaw becomes cramped as she breaks the cookie between her teeth and holds the other half between her fingers. "You know, I don't really like sweets all that much" She says as her nose scrunches in displeasure.

"Yeah, I recall you being not very keen on cookies, cakes and such. But I also remember you enjoying toffee of all kinds, and fruity candies" He replies and she holds out the other half of the cookie and he grin and takes it from her. Her parents would shower her with sweets and she would keep her face bright and happy until her tolerance for sweets had been shattered, so when her parents would turn their backs she would hand her treats to Draco, who seemed to have a bottomless pit for a stomach and craved sweets consistently.

"Oh! Like those ones your mother gets in the spring, those, strawberry ones!" She says as her mouth waters in delight as she fondly remembers the hard candies with the gooey insides.

"And don't forget the raspberry snappers." He says grinning and she nods, a smile crossing her lips as she relaxes in the chair. The room becomes silent and it's nice until the silence becomes uncomfortable.

"So with this injury, that must mean you aren't going to be able to play in the upcoming game, right?" She says disturbing the soundless room.

"Hah! Like I'd miss a chance to beat not only potter but you! I'll have the game postponed or something along those lines" He says and lays down on the hospital bed.

"You don't seem very hurt" She says as he uses his arm to rest his head on.

"I'm in a lot of pain" He says making a sad face but his amusement seeped through as she sees his teeth peering from between his thin lips.

"Yeah yeah. You better hope nothing happens to that creature." She warns as she suddenly becomes more serious.

"Or what?" He says softly and his face relaxes to curiosity.

"I don't know, but for your own sake. If I were you, I wouldn't want the blood of anything on my hands." speaking sincerely she slowly stands up and fixes her skirt, his face turning from curiosity to deep thought as he opens the treat container. "I'll bring you this week's homework and notes tomorrow, so you get your rest and take it easy, alright." She fixes the strap on her shoulder and turns to leave.

"Hey! Volkov…" Malfoy calls to her and she turns, fumbling for a moment and her bag drops from her shoulder and to the floor as she catches a red streak that caught her eye. Looking down into her hand the thing her reflexes had caught was a small plastic candy, the bottom folded and red with little yellow dots while the top was green and twisted, a strawberry. Her eyes glance up as she bends down and picks up her back before smiling widely at the blonde who was laying down with a blissful look on his face as he pretended to sleep, letting him be she keeps her mouth shut and leaves the sunny hospital wing and heads to her class.

•◆•

Weeks and time had passed, Halloween was upon the school at and alarming rate. Today was the big Halloween feast and the first trip to hogsmeade for the third years, it was very cold so everyone was dressed in sweaters and coats to shield themselves from the freezing crystal filled wind. Nina was wearing a double breasted trench coat in soft tan colour, the shoulder area covered by a cape that wrapped around hee upper chest, starting under the collar and stops in the middle of her biceps. Under her partially open coat she fiddles with the very large and thick knitted black scarf to keep her chest and face warm. She was late for the departure since she left her money purse behind, so she was running down the less crowded hallways trying to make it to the entrance hall, the thick black tights allowing her easy movement as the heels of her boots clicking rapidly against the stone floors, the buckles and leather tight around her calves, she runs and jumps the stairs a landing in a half crouch before sprinting to Professor McGonagall. She keeps her feet moving as she hands her permission from to her teacher before sprinting out of the castle and down the path.

Nina had become more athletic since joining the quidditch team, practice was not only filled with flying but physical practice, she could run pretty fast but wasn't the best at it, she could run for a long duration and she could maneuver better than most; due to the endless grace and poise lessons her parents gave her. Truthfully she was better at jumping and climbing than anything since she would go explore he forest in the back of her home, sometimes when she would take the muggle horses she would get lost, so she quickly learned how to climb trees and rocks, but she was still in need of a lot of practice.

Nina slows down to a jog as she sees the other students in the distance, she feels pretty winded from running the halls of the castle and most of the path. She pants and catches her breath, she could feel the heat radiating off her face as the the brisk cold could barely be felt, if she didn't know better she would have thought she had a fever. She could see the bright blonde of Malfoy and the two bulky bodies of his followers strutting along behind him, she could also see Hermione and Ron the two seemed to be bickering over something due to Hermione's angry and jet like movements, Diana and Vance are close behind the two Gryffindors, minding their own business as they seem to be deep in conversation.

Nina wraps her arms around her upper body as the sweat on her skin begins to chill, shivering she looks up at the cloudy sky ' _it looks like it might rain again'_ She thinks with a heavy sigh, she enjoyed storms and rain falls but not if there was a chance for snow. Nina _hated_ snow, it was pretty to look at, but it was so treacherous and inconvenient at all times.

Nina rubs her hands together, her bag clinks against her thigh as she walks, the only sound that filled the air either than her foot falls against the gravel road. It had been about thirty five minutes since she left the castle and she could just barely see the town, she rubs her hands together once again, forgetting her gloves back on her night stand in the castle, oh how she imagined how warm they must be in the heated room. She feels the sting of the cold air in her lungs as she still hasn't fully recovered from running so her breaths are heavy and quite painful.

The low cobblestone walls along the path get higher as they looks like a ruin of some sort along the side of the road, she continues walking until four figures step out in front of her from cracks in the walls, stopping her from moving any farther.

Pansy Parkinson stands with her hands on her hips, her winter coat looking like fake fur thrown together while the other slytherin girls stand behind her.

"Look at you Parkinson!, I didn't know you had actual friends!" Nina says scoffing and motioning her hands to the girls standing behind Pansy, the Slytherin's face twist up making her look even more like a pug and she points at Nina.

"Get her" she shouts and Nina turns to run by is met by more girls and she gets dragged into the ruins of the cobblestone house. The vision of her friends and salvation now out of sight and her hope of being rescues disappearing. Before Nina had time to recover she feels her being forced to her knees and her hair pulled so she is looking at Parkinson head on, the awful girl grins and sways her hips.

"Aww, manface doesn't have any words~ You know Volkov! I don't appreciate you being so buddy buddy with Malfoy, he deserves better company. Someone who actually looks like a girl. So, I'm here to punish you for not knowing your place" Parkinson snarls as she pulls at strands if Nina's hair, it was true, her jaw had sharpened and defined which was nice, but it also got fuller giving it a more masculine shape. Everything around her goes blurry as she feels her body being thrown down, water splashes around her as she lands in a puddle that burns like fire, the water so cold her skin can't decide if it's melting her skin or freezing her fingers off, but it burns the same as she sits up and quickly pulls her hands from the water, the thick sweater heavy with water and her legs soaked as well, her teeth clenched and chattering. She pushes herself up to her feet and water drips from her once white but now brown sweater. Pansy stands grinning to herself as she sways her hips and soon the girls have all left, following the bully close behind. Nina curls up, her arms tight around her body while her hands sit under her armpits, trying desperately to trap her heat in before it escapes. She wish she had her wand but McGonagall took all the third and fourth year students wands, _protocol_ to keep the peace between the younger years.

Stumbling down the path with her arms wrapped tightly around her body, her lips almost blue and her skin pale as paper as her teeth chatter rapidly. She could see the town in the distance and that kept her going, she was so close but the fall air was harsh and she was freezing and frost made her hair stiff and white, winter was very close and the fact she was covered in water made it damn near impossible to move. She tripped and groaned as she fell sprawled out on the ground, part of her wanted to just close her eyes for a moment but the other half was distantly telling her to get up. Something fluffy bites at her shoulders, pushing her up she sees the shaggy black fur of a large skinny hound, helping her along the path it her to the entrance of the town, as she peers into the excitement of hogsmeade and next thing she knew the animal was gone and she stood on her own.

"Nina!" She hears Hermione's voice ring over the crowd, and she hears hurried feet, then strong arms hugging her tightly.

"You're Freezing!" she hears Diana shriek, causing Nina to wince from the high pitch, when her eyes are no longer covered by Hermione's bushy hair. Vance takes off his coat and wraps it around her, Hermione doing the same as hey pull her into the closest shop. Nina couldn't feel the heat on her skin as it tingles numbly, Diana stands behind Nina and puts her hands to her cheeks as she is sat down at a table, Nina looks up at her friend and grins through her pale lips. Shuddering, she soon began to relax as she was warmed by the room as her friends slowly depart to the town to explore more.

"Diana, you should really go. It's not fair that I am keeping you here" Nina speaks sadly and leans on the table.

"It's no worry, it's just like my younger siblings. Always getting into trouble." The silvery ash of Diana's hair shimmered in the low light.

"still, go have fun. I'll wait here, alright?" Nina says softly and after a short argument she sits alone with a low and round teacup, she is hunched over with her arms wrapped around her stomach as she looks down at the flakes and lifting slivers of wood on the surface of the table.

"What happened to you?" The sneer hit her ears like nails on a chalkboard, slowly she sits up and sees Malfoy standing and his eyes are shadowed by his brows as Crabbe and Goyle stand behind him snickering and to their left stands Parkinson giggling with her two friends. Her eyes narrow on them before she turns her head and her eyes meet his.

•¤•

"I tripped" She said simply, and he knew she was lying. Nina wasn't one who just _tripped_ she was very balanced and she was exceptional at catching herself, he had never seen her trip and fall over since they were very young.

"Uh-huh" He crosses his arms disbelievingly as his face is unseen by those behind him, he let his hard exterior break as he allows his face to drop. "You look like hell. Where are those irritating morons?" He expected someone to chase him away, but she looked like it was just her with no sign of a second party.

"They are exploring." She kept her words short and he looked over his shoulder.

"Go get a table, I'll be back" He says quickly and moves one of his hands motioning her with two fingers, as he licks his teeth in irritation. He turned and he strode with his chest puffed and to the door being followed by the soft and insecure footsteps of the girl who follows him like a pup who had done something wrong. ' _what to do'_ his mind turns as he looks down either side of the street. ' _there is a clother just down the street.'_ he turns to his left and walks down the wet cobblestone street, he could hear her heels clicking behind him.

He goes through the racks, his eyes bitterly narrow as he has robes and such draped over his arm.

"These are ridiculous!" She shrieks from behind a curtain and he grinned to himself.

"Let me see them." He calls over the multicolored clothing racks, he hears a whimper and he continues to shift through the racks his eyes flicking between the old worn purple curtain and the rack before him. After a moment she steps out and he couldn't help but explode into laughter, she already had a look of dread on her face and with his outburst it just deepened. She was dressed in a bright orange set of robes that were almost to bright to look at, the sleeves were too long and almost touched the ground, while the hem was high and bunched up in a drape pattern that bunched up high on either thigh but hung low in the middle in both the front and the back.

"I look like a pumpkin!" She cried and his grin turned sly as his eyes became narrow and hooded.

"It is Halloween you know, if you were to wear it. Today would be the day to do it, he dumps the clothes from his arm into a basket at the end, too lazy to put them away he looks around the shop before his eyes come to a classic witch had. Pulling it from the manicens head he walks up to her and places it on her head, the colour was one or two tones darker than the dress but it worked. With a boastful head and shoulder wiggle he looks down at the short girl and his grin turns to a smirk.

"I _don't_ want to wear it though" She says taking the hat off, noticing the dust from being neglected so long, she hits the point of the hat a few times and hits it against her thigh.

"So? Be a little _festive_ ~ " He says cooing and his fingers walk up her bare shoulder before playfully swatting her temple, the fabric was thick and you could see the lines, it was the way the robes were designed and he didn't mind the way it looked, it was a little odd that he liked the way it looked on her; even if she did look like a pumpkin.

"Fine, don't expect me to ever wear it again." She mumbled bitterly and he goes to the counter, dropping four Sickles and three knots on the counter as they approach the door.

"Run along Sugar lump~ be home for dinner and no boys" He coos and she hits him with the long sleeve, he chuckles and she smiles up at him, her wet clothes in a fabric bag.

"You're vile." She says smiling happily. "But I say should thank you" She says looking forward, he always enjoyed praise but something felt different, it wasn't a feeling like normal where his pride would swell and he felt all powerful, this. This was a warm feeling, like sitting in his study in the cold winters, nothing but the light of the fire illuminating his book as he reads the pages, as they capture his attention.

"Yeah, while don't expect it every time you _trip_ " he didn't enjoy the foreign feeling that filled his entire being, himself to be bitter, to shrug her off and his body did as he demanded.

"Still, thank you. I'll see you at the feast, alright?" She continues and looks at him with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, try to keep yourself from going face first into that Ravenclaw leach." His snarl was not intended but it came out just as harsh as if it was on purpose.

"What are you talking about?" She stops at the door in surprise.

"Never mind. Go find your friends" He snaps and quickly makes his way down the street back to where his friends were. ' _She is so stupid, why did she insist on hanging out with those lesser idiots. Nina and I are very different yes, but…'_ he roars and stomps his foot as his hands go through his hair in irritation, earning more than a few odd looks. Looking around at those around him, his eyes all but killing them as he fixes his coat and pushes the door to the three broomsticks, Nina had picked the wrong friends to rely on.

•¤•

Everyone was chatting with excitement over the feast that was about to appear before them. The first years seemed to be puzzled which amused the elder kids, so they would tease them about it saying that they wouldn't be fed since they were new, and it was tradition.

But soon the food was before them and they dug in after a speech given by the headmaster, the castle was a wonder that never ceased to leave her speechless each day.

As soon as the feast began the feast had ended and everyone was on their way back to their common rooms, the group if Gryffindors were happy and talking on their way up the stairs but there was a blockage at the entrance to the entrance Gryffindor tower, all the students in casual wear waiting for the fat lady to open. But apparently she wasn't there they tried to see past everyone crowding the stairs and saw glimpses of slashed paper from the painting, and everyone was talking quickly.

Dumbledore came running up the stairs with other teachers close behind.

"Move! Move!" He shouts as students move out of the way, Nina was surprised nobody fell over the side while Filch and Dumbledore stand at the top of the stairs, Dumbledore inspecting the painting,

"Filch round up the ghosts and search every painting." The headmaster says as the janitor is looking around and points.

"No need...she's right there"

The students from all houses were rushed to the main hall faster than Snape would take away Points in potions class, the school had been put on lockdown... Sirius Black was in the castle, every ghost and teacher was searching the castle for the murderer, every inch was being searched and the students were being kept under close watch, some sleeping and snoring while those few who were too scared to sleep would stare up at the enchanted ceiling. The ceiling was covered with twinkling stars and galaxies, Nina couldn't take her eyes off the beautiful sight before her, her breath seemed to be stolen from her lungs as she watches as each colour swirls and makes it impossible to think. Nina feels the exhaustion upon her blurry eyes, rolling over she lays on her stomach on the bedroll with her arms under the pillow, she was scared, she buries her face in the pillow, her thoughts returned to her and she feared that if she fell asleep that in the morning she would find out someone had died.

Being pulled from her thoughts, a tapping noise catches her attention, lifting her head she she notices piercing grey eyes sparkle wildly under the of the charmed ceiling. Malfoy was diagonal to her, he lay facing her his arm is outstretched and his hand closed around something as he seems to be waiting for her to put her hand beneath his, since his eyes refused to leave hers. Nina slowly slides the back of her ha do along the cold stone floor before her fingers unfold beneath his, he lowers his hand to her palm and his long and thin fingers relax,dropping something in her hand his cold fingers grazing her warm palm, sending tingles to slither up her arm and continue down her spine, slowly she retreats her hand and looks at what he gave her. A small Pegasus shaped jelly was in her hand and she looked back at him, he was eating from a small jar of jelly candies; He always did love candy and he seemed to be using it to comfort him.

Biting the head of the jelly, she tares it off after struggling a bit with the toughness of the candy, it was sour apple flavor which wasn't her favorite but she enjoyed it all the same, she appreciated his kind gesture.

Draco wasn't the bravest and usually relied on his wit, snotty personality, and family status to weasel his way out of most situations. He was spoiled due to both his parents over babying him, they would get him anything he wanted, so that's how he gained his horrid attitude, believing that because the circumstances he was born under, means he is fit to rule over everything he sees.

Nina closes her eyes after finishing the treat, the sour flavor making her jaw ache but she didn't mind, her body stretched out as she listens to snores of others around the room, she kept her eyes closed since it soothed the sting of sleep. As her mind came to an ease she too was deep in dreamland.


	10. Azkaban 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it's short.

Today… Today was the quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

Nina'sits first quidditch match on the team. Her heart pounding in her ears and her shoulders and hands were shaking with the magnitude of an earthquake, her nervous behavior only grew as match drew closer with each passing minute.

When the school had woken and the halls came alive, it was met with the rain that had been falling since the week began and the castle practically shook with the loud claps of thunder, that were closely followed by the moments of blindness from the lightning that covered the castle grounds.

She had heard from Oliver Wood that the rain was like ice and made any broom damn near impossible hold onto if you move your hands from their grip for even a second, fine weather for the first game of the season.

Nina found herself at the breakfast table her shoulders tense and shaking as she breathes in deep and rigged until her lungs strained and she exhales with a long huff. She had been repeating this all morning, trying to calm herself as her hands lay palm down on the table visibly vibrating if anyone were to glance over her hands for even a moment. She had a piece of buttered toast with a peeled hard boild egg placed untouched on the plate between her forearms, Harry came into the hall and sat next to her in a huff since he had finally made it away from Oliver, who had been hounding him all morning.

"You alright?" He asks and the tail of his new Quidditch uniform hangs off the back of the bench as he turns his head to look at her.

"I am fine, just a little shaken. The weather has me a little on edge." She replied to him and her hands slide off the surface of the table and onto her lap, before moving and grabbing the food she had neglected since she arrived early in the morning, she hadn't slept the night before so as soon as she was able to she left the common room as soon as the doors opened. She sighs in relief as she tastes the sweet jelly of the soft and moist bread of the pastry, nostalgia washing over her for a few moments as her mother's smiling face fills her mind. She relaxes with the rest of the sweet treat in her hands and her forearms rest on the edge of the table. She hears a soft laugh pulling her from her daydream of home, she looks over and Harry is snacking on a turkey sandwich she inhaled sharply and then laughs.

"What about you? Are you ready for this?" She asks with a soft voice as she becomes calmed with her friend next to her, her worries lifted as she continues to eat the one thing she thinks she could stomach and keep down. The Hufflepuff team were all sitting around the table going over plans, she could see the back of Diana's head from where she sits. Things were going to be hard.

•◆•

The group of Gryffindors stand in their change room, waiting for the que from Oliver. They were all excited and dancing around to shanties Fred, George and Nina had learned from her father one christmas when they got together at the burrow. Harry sat on a bench and it was like all the weight and pressure of the first game was gone. Then a large clap of thunder shakes the ground and everyone goes silent, the storm had everyone in a shaky uneasy mood, it was dangerous and everyone had felt uncomfortable. Wood comes in from the door and he looks over his team before nodding and a grin stretches across his face reassuring his team. They all grab their brooms and quickly stride down the wood hall to the opening, there are soft splashes as water drips from wooden beams into water collecting in puddles on the ground.

The group stands at the entrance as the rain pours, making a sheet twenty feet in front of them. Nina puts her goggles on and so does her team as oliver steps out first followed by Harry and so on. She mounts her broom at the door and flies to the center and waits, the other chasers doing the same. She stares down the other team, the voice of the announcer muffled by the wind and rain as the sound beats against her ears and the cold rain stings her skin like red hot needles. She winces as closes her right eye as thunder cracks and hurts her ears, moments pass and it feels like hours but then the Quaffle is thrown into the air and her heart stops. She leans forward and it's like time had slowed down, as she reaches for the ball the frantic look on the others faces as they all do the same. Somehow Nina got the ball and had it tucked under her arm, as she pulls up and goes straight up and away from the others she makes it about forty feet up before she stops and allows herself to fall back, her heart racing and she panics even though she has complete control over what is happening, she shoots past the others and goes straight down before pulling up and heading in the direction she believes to be the other teams. The rain making it almost impossible to see she couldn't place any crimson robes of her teammates, she hears the sound of something fast and moving through the air at an alarming rate, it gets closer and she holds her breath as she braces for impact. She hears the bludger hit something but it isn't her, she looks up and sees Fred Weasley in a powerful stance upon his broom as he looks at her with a grin, his usually bright red hair had been turned to dark brown from the rain, he looks points at the goal, she leans forward aiming to the right and the keeper follows her movements, she doesn't stray from the path. She rears back suddenly and turns towards the center goal, she is standing on the broom as it was pointed right at the and she throws the Quaffle through the middle goal, but partially loses her balance, so she throws her arms around the broom handle. She gains control even if she never truly lost control, she turns on her broom quickly gaining speed once again as she approaches center field, her hair bun soaked and strands become loose and stick to her face.

What seems like forever passes and Harry and Cedric are still looking for the damned snitch, Nina felt drained as the cold froze her to the core and made her shiver nonstop, she prayed that one of the seekers would hurry up and find that blasted ball so it would end. Gryffindor was ahead by just a few points but Hufflepuff was catching up due to the sluggish moving Gryffindors, all stiff with the cold. Nina takes a moment and pants sitting on her broom as the tails of her robes are violently flapped around, the water weight weighing her down and in result making her slower, and require more energy to keep her body in a sitting position , she takes a moment to look around, she looks to see if by chance her family was there, but much to her dismay, not a single body from her family were in the bleachers guests and parents would be placed with teachers, and she feels her heart drop ' _must be work'_ . But from where she is she sees the hufflepuff chaser, Malcolm Preece heading in a straight line gradually coming to a point right below her. She goes straight down to meet him, and he doesn't see her as they come to a T, she grabs the Quaffle and pulls up right before the lake of water and sand and she flies along the bottom of the pitch it is the hardest place to see from. She sees Katie is close and she sits up using all of her strength she pulls her arm back and throws the Quaffle straight for her, while her arm is extended it leaves her side wide open and she feels the collision and both she and the hufflepuff are thrown from their brooms, her body goes flying and tumbles in the air and she hits the ground rolling. Coming to a stop she gasps as she feels as if her lungs on one side had stopped working, she groans through her teeth before she openly groans in pain and hisses loudly, her arms, legs, hair, face and robe covered in wet sand. She rolls onto her back and gasps, her goggles being pelted with rain but she sees dark figures high in the sky almost dots. And she sees Harry on his broom, but then. He isn't… She gasps and then he pinwheels down towards the ground.

McGonagall walks along the row of Gryffindors, all of them sitting at the dining table and waiting for her to come to them, she had to take count of who was staying for the winter break. Nina leans on her hand sighing as she hears people naming themselves off and then say if they are staying or not. McGonagall comes to her and she smiles up at the House head. "I will be going home" She says softly and smiles, but in reality she will be going to the Malfoys, her mother was out on a tour in America while her father went to go check on one of the gryffin holds, someone had let a flock of them go and so he had to go and fix it.

It was like the last few weeks hadn't even happened, she had bruised three ribs and Harry almost fell to his death, Sirius Black was in the castle,yet things were normal and people went as usual. She was actually really happy to get out of the castle even for a little while, everything was too much and she was feeling overwhelmed. This Christmas her uncle Archibald would come to visit them, he was a large scotsman with bright red hair that covered his whole body. He was loud and fun and he was her favorite person in the world, he taught her folk songs and danced with her. When her parents were busy and the Malfoys were out, he would take her and his son Thomas for a field trip, he would show them many things and teach her the wonder of even the smallest things. Her mother taught her to sing, her father taught her about animals and creatures, while he taught her the things she loved. Then he had to go away and she was unsure why he did but he left, and when he came to see her he would tell her of his travels and bring her a souvenir, most of the time it was a rare flower encased in glass and metal, or a new saddle for riding. Last time he brought a blanket that was embroidered with an king and queen of where his family had originated.

Walking down the hall she whistles an old Celtic song, taught to her by her father, her spirits lifting as she moves with a hop in her step as the song fills her with hope and the need to dance fills her. Her eyes close as she imagines the thought of her uncle and her dancing to the tune once again. Soon…


	11. Azkaban final

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs to listen to while reading this chapter.
> 
> Soap - Melanie Martinez  
> Nina and Draco's disagreement
> 
> Angels - Vicetone  
> For the end of the year rough match

Draco finds himself looking in a mirror examining the green robes that draped down his form, flexing his hand as he fixes the quidditch glove covering his hands it had been a very long time since he last wore his team colours in a game. Today he would go against Gryffindor and that mean he and Nina would be on the same field, which for some reason it made him uneasy, she had made herself known to be fairly capable upon a broom.

He smirked at himself as he ran his fingers through his hair moving it from his eyes, his hand holding his broom firmly. He then turns his gaze behind him, to where his team looks both angered and worried that they would once again lose, he sighs and turns to his team, all of which ready to try and give their all. He couldn't stand losing to Potter another year, he couldn't give him what he wanted.

Silently the group makes their way to the pitch they already see the other team waiting for them, the crowed cheering for the gold and red team who seem to be basking in the praise. As the Slytherin team enters the field the cheering gets just a little louder as the rest of the people in the stands begin to cheer for them, this brings him pride knowing that there were at least a few who had faith in the team. Draco mounts his broom at the centre of the pitch and hovers in the air right in front of Potter, he saw the familiar soft features of Nina from the corner of his eye, her brows pulled together in determination. Before he knew it the whistle had been blown and he pulled back and up, his skill in broom flying was mastery. It was an extension of who he was and who his father wanted him to be, he would win this.

He waits, hovering behind the Quidditch goals for slytherin. He was waiting for that shine of the snitch to show even for a moment, but he kept getting distracted by the determination of Nina as she and the two other chasers were destroying the Slytherin team with ease. Just as he saw her, behind her was a glint and his heart stopped as he leaned forward. Shooting in the opposite direction of the chasers he had found it! The snitch! He began to outstretch his arm, it was so close…he could feel the breath stop in his chest, almost, he almost had it. Victory was his. His fingers began to enclose but just as his fingers flexed the streak of red shot past his eyes, he couldn't breath. It was gone and the crowed roared. It was there! He had it! He stopped and just stared, the cheers drowned out and he felt nothing. Slowly his head turned Gryffindor team was jumping around excited, with Potter being held high in the air above their heads.

•¤•

Nina was filled with the overpowering feeling of victory as she cheered and jumped around with her team. Something within her told her to turn her head, and as much as she wanted to ignore it she obeyed. The blond hair and green robes quickly disappearing through the entrance of the stadium, worry weighed on her shoulders as she pushed past the group of people crowding the triumphant seeker.

"Hey Fred take care of my broom would ya, I have to take care of something" She called to him as she jogged the way she saw Draco go, running through the pitch gate and looked around, she could see him in the distance and quickly making his way up the hill to the school.

•◆•

Antonina ran along halls for any sign of the boy, the sun had set and she was exhausted, sweat covering her as she stopped for a moment, leaning against the cool stone wall. She had been looking for at least an hour, her back covered in sweat and her face was uncomfortably overheated and shiny, her jog had slowed to a fast paced almost hopping motion. She was utterly exhausted from not stopping for even a moment, her calves burned and her knees threatened to give with each step. Turning the corner she collided with an unknown form, she bounced off and took two falling steps back as two hands grab her biceps.

"Watch it Volkov! Where'd the bloody hell are you off to so fast" Malfoy's face was a rotten sneer and his tone was just as anger inducing, she stares wide eyed at him, disbelief running through her head and makes it hard to think straight. "Well?!"

"I have been looking for you! You bloody child!" She does her best to sound angry but her lungs burn as she pants and struggles for air. "You could even try to be grateful!" She grunts as he let's her go and pushes her back slightly

"I almost had it… it was in my reach and then. Potter! Everyone just feels sorry for him because his parents are dead!" His voice heard from behind her, the raw rage very clear as he hisses his name like acid in his mouth.

"You're not going to win every game you play, Malfoy. This is a known fact, it doesn't matter what circumstances you are born under, you won't always come out on top" She says simply, she walks around the room interested in what she could find, yet she was annoyed that he was once again thinking about himself as a higher being.

"Well you don't have to worry about losing, now do you, Volkov! You have scar face to suck up and fix for your mistakes! And Granger makes sure your grades are damn near perfect! " His voice is like a roar and it catches her off guard, her eyes narrow at him her own anger taking the best of her.

"Really now? Apparently you seem to forget! You aren't the only one who has people breathing down their neck! I too have my parents expecting me to be the best, to get the best marks, to behave and dress like I am more than I am! to be a bloody example! We are children for crying out loud, and just because you can call yourself a Malfoy doesn't mean you are better than me!" Her anger boiled but as soon as it began the flames had been frozen by an expression she had never even thought he was capable of, any kindness had evaporated with his senses. His eyes, she felt his gaze burning through her, she had crossed a line and that was painfully obvious. Nina felt her hairs stand on end, she felt threatened as the blood in her face drained and her heart hammered loud in her ears, she felt that he may kill her if she moves, she could see him thinking of the most brutal thing he could say to cut her down. She was afraid of his ice that covered him like a permafrost, it isolated him and made him numb, while his rage came and burned hot and fast. She had seen him angry a few times, but out of irritation, never like this, never like his intent was to harm. Nina wanted to say something, anything but she felt that if she even tried it would slip off like rain on a window. First it started with his walk, the slow stride gradually speeding up as he approaches her, her heart threatening to explode as it beats hard in her throat. Soon he is close to her and she quickly backs up until her back is against the wall, her head turned away and eyes shut tight as she could feel his presence directly in front of her, his breath on her skin, her fists clench as she waited for what was to come.

"D- Draco, please... you're scaring me" she all but pleaded with big eyes, she took took a deep breath and closed her eyes turning her head and waited for the expected blow to her cheek, the anticipation killing her as multiple memories flow through her head of being struck for speaking out of line.

"I apologize… it's just. Potter gets the best of me, a- and" His voice breaking with horror, she opened her eyes to see him stepping back. "Volkov, you know I would never lay a hand on you." His eyes were round, baffled that she thought he would hit her. "I know we tried, we tried to get along for our parents. We played our parts, but you and I can't get along if you are friends with Potter let alone the fact you are in Gryffindor." His voice is cold and desolate as he turns his back to her and he walks down the hall, only making it a few steps before she could gather her thoughts.

"You thought it was an act?" She her voice cracking with repudiation.

"The other Slytherin's have been talking. Actually the whole school has. We can't be seen together anymore, so stay the hell away from me or you'll wish you've never met me" the warning in his voice is clear and she stops, her face darkening as the anger he seemed to have moments ago transfers to her.

"I should have know" Her scoff filling the hall with an amused tone before turning dark. "Good to know your appearance is more important than moral decency. I'm glad I got of that train before I got the displeasure of being in the wreck when you realise how horribly you have made your life." and with that she turned on her heel, standing tall till she turned the next corner, her knees screaming as they had finally given out, dropping a foot in height before catching herself on the wall, she noticed just how rancid she smelled from the day so far.

•◆•

Just as they had promised, the two had avoided one another for two months, it was hard to completely avoid one another when they had all their classes together, they were paired up once or twice, but between silence there was snide remarks, but she couldn't worry about their pathetic quarrels, for exam week had come and it was hitting the school like a plague.

Antonina walked out of her Care for Magical Creatures exam, her neck aching and her hand cramped, she knew all the answers so it wasn't a problem and she wasn't in there long; but she was tense and answered everything rather quickly. Stepping out of the great hall she rubbed her neck and loosened her tie, making her way up the many, many stairs to the common room she looked out the window at the sun high in the sky. The students were required to take their exam immediately after breakfast so that the hall may be used for other exams afterwards, she needed to blow off steam but there was really no way in doing so, students weren't allowed to go pretty much anywhere without a teacher unless it was straight to their common room. Nina covered her mouth as she yawned rather loudly, she, Hermione and the girls in who her room stayed up rather late studying for Potions and Care For Magical Creatures. Nina wasn't confident in her ability to brew even a simple potion, no matter how many people taught her how to do so. Nina wasn't a good cook, but she could make one hell of a stew; but even then it would be too salty or dry. Nina was good at making things look pretty, she set up a fruit display over the summer and it was visually appealing, she even felt bad when she served it and people began taking it apart, Katrina made a point of grabbing things from the centre and causing avalanches of fruit.

Standing on the last set of moving stairs, she could see the fat lady back in her portrait giving the pictures around her quite the earful.

Approaching the painting Nina stands before it "Scurvy Cur" She speaks the password and the painting rolls her eyes as she opens, the fat lady was usually annoyed with who ever interrupted her. Moving past the door she hears it click behind her as she enters the cool and dimly lit room, the sun was hidden behind dark clouds which was nothing to complain about, but that combined with the dark fireplace and no lanterns lit around the room, made the common room seem vacant and eerie. Nina didn't mind it, it was calming and on some level, it reminded her of home, a good majority of the house wasn't used so on gloomy days it looked very similar to the Gryffindor common room.

Stepping into the centre of the room she almost regrets it as the fireplace erupts into flames and the room is filled with that warm light, but somehow the room becomes unsettling to her, despite the warm light of the fire, approaching the fireplace Nina bitterly recited several incantations trying to get it to return to its dormant state, the elves still haven't turned off the motion censored magic that was put in place so that the fire would turn on as soon as movement was sensed in the room; but winter and spring had passed and summer could be felt in the air, to her relief the fire disappeared with a sharp intake of air as the flames collapsed upon themselves and vanished.

Normally there would be two or more people in the common room doing miscellaneous things, but even with a few people, the noise was loud and the clutter around the room would match the intensity of the noise; people would leave books, papers, quills, and sometimes even clothing, usually consisting of sweaters and socks from unwinding Gryffindor's, but as Nina looked around the room it was clean, nobody had time to unwind so it gave the house elves time to tidy after them.

Dropping her bag to the floor with a relieved sigh, she unclasps the buttons at chest and allowing the robe to drop from her shoulders and to the couch behind her, soon her body follows as she flops to the couch with limp limbs. The silence affecting her like a soothing melody she had forgotten as a child that she had come across once more, she didn't mind constant noise but when that is the tune of each and every day it became irritating rather than something to get use to.

Nina's closed eyes sting and water with dryness and need for sleep, so unfortunately it felt nicer to have the heavy lids open rather than closed so she may actually sleep. Chatter could be heard on the opposite side of the common rooms door, Nina let her head roll to the side so that her eyes could see those who ruined the silence. Parvati, Lavender, Neville and Dean all come through the portrait hole and their eyes land on Nina's, rather tired and unamused expression.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed" Lavender's cheery voice echoes the room as each of her steps is followed with a little bounce.

"Don't tell me you don't feel the same" Nina's voice had given out as her throat collapsed upon itself for a moment, as shifted on couch she was sprawled upon. "Last night you might as well have fallen over dead with fear of failing"

"Yes well not everyone grew up Learning about every magical creature on the planet." Lavender cut in as her movements become stiff and her voice squeaks.

"If I remember correctly, Nina has quite an awful time with potions." Parvati steps in more to defuse her friend rather than start a fight with Nina. "Am I right?" She asks as Lavender's eyes sparkle with interest.

"Yeah, I can't cook either. I might as well dump water out instead of boiling it dry. Herbology is also not a strong point for me, unless it's taking care of some creature like mandrakes" Nina let her shoulders relax as dean sits next to her, white the girls sit on the red velvet chairs and turned them to face one another.  
"I am positive you'll do fine, especially with Malfoy watching your back." Pavarti quickly bit her tongue like she had told a secret meant only for her ears.

"That's fairly bold, isn't it Pavarti" Dean seemed to be scolding her with a joking tone.

"Bold indeed" Nina continued, she could feel her pupils shrink as she held the girl in place with her eyes.

"Yes, well words do tend to travel." Lavender jumped in and Nina's eyebrows raised.

"Spreading rumours that are not true in the slightest is a very bad habit." Nina says as a smile crossed her face.

"What?" The three of them manage to all ask together, Dean seeming a little more confused, while the girls are more interested.

"Malfoy doesn't enjoy competition when it comes to grades, everything else he finds it entertaining. But not if it evolves grades." Nina leans her head on her hand and before anyone could respond she smiles and let's out a pleased sigh. "Can you believe school is almost over." She smiled brightly but her eyes dared one of them to continue talking about Malfoy.  
"I can I'm sick of all this work we have to do" says an enthusiastic Ron with a rather exhausted looking Hermione on his tail.

"Ronald! It's rude to jump into a conversation uninvited!" Hermione scolds him as she flops between Nina and Dean. "But I can agree, I'm glad that exam is over." and with an all around agreement the Gryffindor's chatter but soon they are sitting in a circle comparing notes and fixing mistakes.

•◆•

The exams had come and passed quickly, Antonina and Diana had just finished their defence against the dark arts exam and the two of them were back to back and sitting on stools. Nina had her head hanging forward, and Diana had her head leaning back with her mouth open, Diana dressed in black jeans and a pale blue sweater between the large holes making up the pattern was guessed to be a darker blue shirt, while Nina wore a dark brown knit shawl wrapped around her shoulders, a white t-shirt beneath and rust coloured jeans. Vance walked from around a corner with a large book open in his hand while the other slides down the pages.

"Nina, what was that thing you were telling me about?" Vance leans on the counter following the bottom of the bookshelves.  
"Which one? I don't talk about _things_ very often, would you mind elaborating" she lifts her head and looks at him though her extreme and messy curls, her eyes narrow and tired as he locked eyes with her as she sits up and runs her fingers through her hair and stretching as she pushes the curls out of her face; Diana jolting up with a snort as her support from Nina is removed.

"You said you had a waterfall near your house right?" He shuts his book and places it next to him on the counter.

"If you count an hour of horseback as _near_ than, yes. There is a waterfall _near_ my house… Why?" She slides off the stool with stiff legs and raises her arms over her head to stretch again.

"Would you be able to talk your parents into letting us visit, my parents anniversary is over the summer and they want to go on a vacation. My mother was talking about going somewhere to see a waterfall." Vance crosses one leg over the other and she nods tiredly.

"You could probably stay for a few day's, Diana you could even come and bring your family." Nina says not really thinking.

"I doubt your parents would enjoy five boys in their house messing things up. But thank's for the offer" Diana says laughing as she too stands. "Lunch should be soon, yeah?" Diana asks as Nina grabs both of them by the hands and drags her two friends towards the exit.

"What are you most excited for? I hope there is chicken soup with cold turkey and lettuce sandwiches" Vance's voice fills the silents and the two girls laugh at the odd question.

"Hmm, I think potato salad and that turkey sounds good." Diana laces her voice with a tone of longing as her eyes roll back in her head.

"Hmm, I saw Cinnamon Apple tarts on the Slytherin table yesterday. Not even one of them was touched, And they were perfect!" Nina's amazement was clear in her voice as the pitch raised, before returning to its regular volume. "Which is completely ridiculous." Her nose turns up slightly as she feels embarrassed for allowing her voice to get out of hand.

"Why didn't you just take one?" Diana shakes her head as if it were an obvious conclusion.

"Diana, Diana, If only it were what simple. Nina would have to cross the entire hall to get one first of all, and second. They are Slytherin's! If a Gryffindor tried to take more from them than they already have, there would be an uprising." Vance states simply.

"Exactly" An unknown voice comes from behind them and the three of them whip around to see who is speaking.

"Finn?" Vance pushes past the girls with a big grin and walks up to the boy in a green sweater. "I haven't seen you since exams ended three days ago!" He says as their hands grasp each others as if in some brotherhood, while Nina and Diana stand in confusion.

"Finn?" Diana asks questioningly as his golden straight hair covered a good portion of his face and his eyes were warm like tea that steeped too long, but it was welcoming, even if he had a somewhat awkward look to him, his hair was pulled back in a ponytail but strands shot up here and there, he looked like he tried to keep proper; but he didn't look comfortable.

"Nina, Diana, this is Finnigan Lockridge. The most tolerable Slytherin you'll ever meet. He is the person I sit with in class, since you two aren't in our grade" Vance says gesturing to the boy next to him.

"Hi." He kept his words short as his hand came out and he gave them a sheepish and desperate smile, his eyes screaming for one of them to take his hand to defuse the awkward tension, Nina noticed something else in his eyes, a sort of anger and demanding. Interested Nina extended her hand and held it firmly, _father always said never push aside harmless curiosity._

"Lockridge, one of the eastern breweries am I correct, I understand your families and the Malfoy's had a… disagreement over a shipment of rather rare wine quite a few years ago am I right?" with a nod she smiles as she know exactly who she is dealing with. "Antonina Volkov… Nice to meet you. So about those pies, any way I could make a trade with you?" She narrows her eyes knowingly at him and she sees his lips press together, he knew he was caught as both their grips become firm. When dealing with other purebloods, knowing her history came in handy and she really appreciated all those hours her father made her read documents and books, of ties, marriages, agreements, disagreements, crests, and so on about all pure-blood families big and land small.

"Get me one of those cheesy potato tots and we have a deal." Shaking on it they grin at one another, and Vance raised his eyebrow, trouble was on its way and these two would definitely end up blowing something up.

•◆•

"No, no, No! Rosemary was the grandmother!" Finn shouted as he and Nina walked down the hall.

"As much as I'd I to appease to your delusion, Rosemary is the mother Agatha was the grandmother. Agatha believed in purity, it was Rosemary who married a muggle." only a few hours had passed and Nina and Finn were getting along perfectly as Diana and Vance trailed behind, Diana and Vance had drowned out the bickering of the Gryffindor and Slytherin.

"But Agatha was married twice, once to a muggle and once to a wizard!" Finn was poking his hand hard as Nina rolled her eyes.

"Once again, it was Rosemary." Nina's exasperated tone said everything as her hands fly out in front of her.

"I think I would know my own family history!" Finn said frustrated beyond belief.

"I would expect that too, but unfortunately you didn't do enough research." Nina couldn't believe she was getting along with Finn, it took no time for them to get comfortable with each other, next thing they knew they were fighting over history. The next few minutes were filled with a comfortable silence as the four students walk towards the viaduct, stopping at the entrance they squint their eyes.

"Who is that?" Vance says as they all watch three forms running as if for their lives, falling all over themselves in the process. Expecting them to slow down they stand at the entrance and wait for the three to get closer.

"Malfoy?" Finn says stepping forward, the three boys approaching at a extreme speed, their eyes occupied to the path behind them.

"Move!" Simultaneously the two older boys grabbed the girls and pulled them to either side of the stone archway, the three boys shoot past with their eyes forward, the blonde turns to see if they are being followed, he slows down as his eyes meet Nina's, the two larger boys checking him in either shoulder, making him take two steps back. His eyes follow the Finn's arms and his eyes narrow as he then cuts through her body and locks eyes with him, a moment passes and the glare turns to a wicked smirk.

"Lockridge! Found yourself a friend? Hard to believe anyone would want to tolerate your awkward ass." Draco speaks as he slowly approaches, his presence filling the area like smoke. He was standing between the four friends.

"Don't be such a princess Malfoy!" Diana snapped from Vance's arms as he held her back.

"I don't think I was talking to you, Mudblood." This time Vance had to be the one held back as well as Nina, though Finnigan wasn't very strong.

"Say that again you bloody Bastard!" Vance shouts and Nina stopped, shaking her head as warning bells went off, the glint in Draco's eyes shone dangerously.

"If you touch me I'll make sure you end up like that headless pigeon." His words were cold and Nina slipped from Finnegans grasp, as she quickly approached Draco with furious eyes, before she got close to him she felt hands on her chest and then she was falling fast, the air forced from her lungs and her eyes wide, as she fell she could see the sadistic grin of Gregory Goyle.

Hitting the ground with a loud crack she inhaled sharply as her head bounced.

"Nina!" She could hear multiple voices call her name as her ears rung, staring at the ceiling as her vision tried to return. Nina was sat up by one of her friends, Diana was trying to get her attention as she knelt in front of Nina, but her gaze was on the tall Ravenclaw, his arms thrashing at the large form beneath him.

"We have to get her to the infirmary" Finn spoke from behind her and she shook her head.  
"No no I am okay. I'm just a little dizzy" She says as she slowly stands stumbling a little as she fully stands, but Diana grabs her by the ribs, Draco's eyes are on Nina, frightened and worried but his lackey was currently being pummelled so he dare not move, worried he may be next.

"Vance! Stop, he's had enough, mate." Finn grabbed his friend by the biceps and pulled him away.

"You should keep a better leash on your mutts, Malfoy. Or next time I'll go for the trainer." Vance snaps, through panting breaths. Draco's eyes snap from Nina and to Vance. "And don't you dare even glance towards Nina again, and if you even think about saying anything to Diana, I will break your bloody fingers. Enjoy the piano then!" Vance's words hit him and he steps back as he clenches his fists, turning as Crabbe grabs Goyle and the three of them retreat. As he turns Nina notices the welt in the form of a hand print on his cheek.

"Am I bleeding?" Nina asks Diana as she turns her head. Diana shifts some of her hair, and after a long moment she sighs happily.  
"Thankfully no, or Vance wouldn't be the only one losing his temper." Diana smiles but Nina can see the hurt in her eyes.  
"Are you okay?" She asks softly, while off to the side Finn continues to calm Vance, giving him a stern talking too but also congratulating him.

"Yeah! I'm not the one who was pushed to the ground." Diana says shaking it off and Nina narrows her eyes.

"You know what I mean, are you okay?" Her voice was gentle and Diana dropped her barrier for a moment as her shoulders went limp.

"I didn't choose to be a mudblood" Diana spoke gently and Nina practically had steam coming from her ears.

"Don't you dare use that word, there is nothing wrong with being muggleborn. It means you were chosen to have magic, you're special, purebloods and half-bloods are born with an almost guaranteed to have magic. At the end of the day we are still people, you got chosen to be apart of a brilliant world and there is no other person I'd rather call friend." Nina smiles and so does Diana.

"Are you girls alright?" Finn asks as the boy's walk over, Vance fixing his shirt as he approaches.

"I apologize for losing my head. But nobody touches my friends." Vance says as he runs his fingers through his curly hair, it was no longer combed back to contain it, it was in his eyes and Diana let Nina go, walking up to him and fixing his hair for him, as he just makes it worse.

"That's a good look for you." Diana says as she watches his hair, Vance's cheeks light up, Nina looks at Finn and grins, he closes his eyes and smiles nodding his head giving her the thumbs up, Nina had a feeling that Vance fancied Diana and according to the expression she got from Finnigan, her guess was correct.

•◆•

The following week leading up to the last day of school, Malfoy had increased his run ins with Nina, making sure she was alone and antagonizing her, knocking things out of her hands, like books that she had taken from the library to fill her time, every single time she was alone he was right at her side to irritate her, and when she was with her friends she could see him in the distance making some rude motion, like slapping things from her hands, or a sneer. Despite her efforts she ignored him, she would have guessed that after what happened to his friend he would leave her alone, but no, this was Draco she was thinking about, and when provoked or threatened he comes back twice as worse.

Nina had gone to the library once more, and after some thought and standing at the door of the library with her books she decided to stay within the library that day, knowing that Malfoy was definitely around some corner on the other side, she found a nice cozy table near a big open window, overlooking the black lake.

Leaning over a book a published journal about an adventure in Iceland, dated back almost four hundred years ago, she bit into an apple she had taken from breakfast, she had not lingered long due to the fact Draco could show up at any given moment, thankful that she hadn't seen Malfoy at all that morning.

"You know you aren't allowed to eat in the library." Vance says turning the corner, a pile of books in his arm, as he lifts his hand and releases two or three books and they return to their original place, his glasses on the end of his nose.  
"You found your glasses." She points out and he looks at her over the rim and raises a thick eyebrow at her.

"Don't change the subject, but yes they were hidden under one of the common room couches by Peevus. The Red Barron told him to return everything he took before we all had to leave for school." After his arms were empty he walked over and sat in front of her, taking off his glasses and setting them on the table.

"Thankfully, I am sure your parents would lose their minds if you went home without your glasses." She says smiling and he lets his head fall forward as he laughs.

"Yeah, my mother would probably send a very angry letter to our headmaster." He says tapping the table with his hard nails. "So why are you locking yourself in here? There is a big no house quidditch game going on in an hour, I'd expect you would be already out there." Vance leans forward and with a long and thin alien like arm, he grabs the apple and sets it on the table on the far corner opposite of Nina before she could take another bite. "Don't tell me it's because you don't have any books at home. You've already told me about the library with an endless amount of books." He puts her hand on the center of the book and pulls it away from her so she looks up at him.

"I just wanted to read that's all" Nina had become quite the good liar as she shrugs her shoulders. "I don't do much reading over the summer, I go riding a lot. I am only home for a few hours and I sleep." Nina states simply, it wasn't a complete lie in the end, but it still wasn't completely truthful. She would bring a book with her and while she waited for her mount to rest, she would relax and read.

"Yes well you'll have to wait an entire summer to play again! Plus with the world cup during the summer you'll be dying to play." He says hitting the table anxiously. "If we can get Diana, Harry and the twins we have more than half of a team, come on. It's not a tournament, just teams going against teams for fun." He begs her and after a moment she smiles and nods.  
"Fine, Fine. When is it at?" She says beginning to pack up what little she brought with her.

"What time is it now?" Almost as if on cue, when his question ends, far off in the castle the clock tower echoes, striking the twelfth hour. "You have an hour and a half to get changed and eat." He says placing the apple in her hand. "I'll get the others, It's going to be a dirty match. Basic rules but body contact isn't a penalty, you're going to want to bring a helmet." He says as he stands and she scoffs.

"I can handle myself" She says grinning as she stands up and places her things in one arm and walks next to Vance, a smile staying plastered to her face.

"The Slytherins team is playing, all of 'em" His voice goes serious for a moment.

"Good, all is fair, right? He won't be able to cry to his daddy~" She says as she feels the irritation that had boiled all week turn into eagerness for revenge, and it felt good.

•◆•

Nina sits upon her broom, fixing her glove as she keeps her eyes locked on Draco. The darkness in her eyes had immediately set him off, she had entered the pitch with a purposeful prowl, stalking her prey as soon as she had touched the grass. She saw him press his lips hard together, his blonde hair like a beacon as their grey eyes connected she grinned and he became unreadable.

Nina's team consisted of Nina, Finn and Ginny as a chasers, Diana and Ron as beaters, Harry as the seeker, Vance as keeper. Across from Nina and her team was the Draco in place of the seeker, Miles Bletchley as keeper, Crabbe and Goyle as beaters, Marcus Flint, Theodore Nott, and a tall dark male that Nina remembered as Blaise Zabini as chasers; It was odd to see Zabini, unless called upon in class he was mostly silent and secluded, so he was the biggest wild card on the team.

The only one with her full attention was Draco, their eyes locked on one another, the first full teams on the pitch, so as the saying goes, "First come, First serve.".

Rising into the air on their brooms, their team stretches their arms and cracks their necks, they had three minutes till they began, and Nina was getting comfortable. She could see his discomfort but also the challenge in his eyes, others seem to notice as Harry leans down from his broom and taps her on the shoulder, and with reluctance she lets her eyes linger for a moment before looking up at Harry.

"Yeah?" Her eyes lock on her friend and he shakes his head.

"Malfoy isn't your target, stick to Flint." He says almost commanding her.

"Fine, but I need to get one good knock on him." She responds as the Weasley twins enter the centre of the pitch.  
"Alright you bloody buggers! This is not a clean match, all contact does not count as a penalty unless someone dies!" George begins and is followed by Fred.

"There are some rule changes, there are two quaffles, and the seekers must participate as chasers until the snitch is spotted! Makes it more fun right?" Fred says with just as excitement as George.

"What!" Both seekers shout and are ignored by the twins as they both grab one of the quaffles.

"Now be nice" They both say and after a few moments each one of the twins throws up a quaffle and on cue Nina and Ginny were on the ball within seconds and shot straight through the other team, each one having to turn around and giving the girls an extra few seconds before they had the rest of the team on them. Harry and Finn were soon caught up Harry was on Nina's left and Finn was on Ginny's right, ready to be passed the ball if needed and it was needed right away. Nina felt her entire broom jolt as someone grabs it and she feels her body lift and fall forward, so needing both hands she threw it in Harry's general direction as she gripped the broom and ended up hanging from her broom with one hand and she began to swing herself so she could grab it with her other hand, as her other hand finally gripped the broom she curled up in a split second as Marcus Flint shot straight for where her midriff was, as he misses she let's out somewhat of a whimper of relief, her body dangles for a moment before her name is called from her left.

"Nina!" Diana comes flying straight for her knees, as she flies by Nina kicks off her back and easily swings her leg over the broom, already moving through the air to pick up full speed. Catching up and passing Diana easily and heading straight for Ginny, who was being chased by Zabini, Nott and Goyle picking on her, but she easily evades them. She flies alongside Goyle, grabbing the end of his broom and flipping it upside down, his turn to dangle.

"Ginny!" She notifies the youngest Weasley of her presence and Ginny just lets it roll off her fingers, it only stays in the air for a moment before it is gone, Nina had come directly down in front of her immediately snatching it from the air, to take some of the heat off Ginny. Nina grabs it with a swooping motion and she spirals down twice, picking up more speed, as she heads straight for the grown and easily pulls up, the air she had kicked up hits the sand and it flies up around her for a moment, her broom already tilted straight up as she shoots back up at Ginny. Zabini managed to recover before hitting the ground but Nott hit the ground hard, as Nina goes by she lets go of the quaffle right in front of Ginny and it was her turn, she had the quaffle and was heading straight for the hoops, Nina rounding and coming to her side, the two Gryffindors near unstoppable as they easily make a goal. The two girls swerve to a stop to see who had the Quaffle now, Malfoy sat for a moment with it balanced upon his fingers like a plate, the challenging smirk on his lips were nothing to the burning storm in his eyes, daring her to move.

With the wind not roaring in her ears she could hear the cheers from the stands, and on around the pitch there were multiple people blasting different tunes, tilting his head he slowly put the ball under his arm and he shot straight for beneath her. Squinting her eyes she heard Harry come up next to her.

"It's too easy" It was simple, but true, he wasn't dumb in even the slightest, it was bait.

"I'll take it, you follow above, cut him off if you have to" She says already shooting down to meet him, her ponytail violently flicking behind her as her eyes lock on the blonde hair that shone white in the sunlight. He had slicked his hair back and he was wearing a dark grey t-shirt with his quidditch tights and shin pads over his boots. It seems both Draco and Nina had the same idea, less is more, the fact they were similarly dressed spooked her to say the least, she was wearing her quidditch shin pads, boots and tights, with a dark grey tank top; the only difference was she was wearing her gloves for a better grip on her broom.

Leaning forward and Doing her best to meet him and snatch the ball, unfortunately she fails and pulls up, placing her foot upon the ground she yanks her broom, her other foot hooked under the foot rest, fighting the gravity as she turns hard and kicks off the ground following Malfoy, catching up but trailing behind. She was so close, when he suddenly shot straight up and she followed with some difficulty,the power and confidence she had not too long ago disappeared, he was still much better than her and she was struggling; and he knew it.

" _Where the hell is Harry!"_ He should have cut him off by now, she looks over her shoulder and her eyes widened she was being tailed by Crabbe and a rather furious Nott, and behind the was Harry and Finn. Her head snaps forward and she see's the shimmer high in the sky, the sun caught it and the gold gleam was almost unnoticeable. " _That's why!"_ He had spotted the snitch and he was going to catch it in front of not only her, but Harry too. She reached for his broom the tail was just in reach, he turns for only a moment, she could see his muscles contracting as he pulled back his arm and she began to lean and reach for the ball, and everything slowed his arm was extended and she was trying to grab the ball that was going right for an unmanned ring, he couldn't get the point and the snitch. Her arm stretched to its limit, her fingertips graze the side but she only bumps it, and within moments his hand is on her wrist and he is dragging her higher. The determination upon his face was distorting him from who she knew, she pulled and tugged at her arm, trying to free her wrist from his strong grasp. The next few moments were faster than she could even believe, he had the snitch between his thumb and fingers, just as he was holding the quaffle before, but now the game winning ball. Draco's hand was gripping her broom instead of her wrist and they sat still and in silence for a long moment, her eyes look over the ball for a moment, she hadn't seen it so close before, and then her eyes go to him, shouts and cheers of victory heard beneath them, but they were too high to understand any of it.

"Magnificent, isn't it? Now do you understand" His voice is gentle for the moment and he takes her hand and opens it and places it in her hand, a she looks at it again, her eyes wide as it's wings flex and shine against her face. Draco slowly pulls his broom handle back until he is falling backwards, before heading straight down once more, she just sat for a moment, her finger runs along the top of the wing, watching the metal on the other side separate before it closes and she looks around at the blue sky and bright warm sun above, it was summer and that moment of being alone in the big open beautiful summer sky brought a warmth to her heart.

Draco was complicated, but he knew how to make a point.

Returning to the ground with snitch in hand she is bombarded by her teammates.

"What happened up there?" Diana asks quickly.

"Why didn't you stop Malfoy!" Ron snapped and Vance wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"It was a snitch Ronald, she isn't the seeker and if she touched it we would lose by default, unless she broke his nose she couldn't do anything. But since she has to spend the summer with his family coming around, I doubt that'd be a good idea." Vance shoots his priceless grin at Ron, and he scrunches his lips up as he nods as he looks to the side. Running her thumb over the warm metal in her hand as George moves next to her and bends down to her level, putting his hand out.

"We are going to need that for the next game." He says bitterly, quite a few people were annoyed with Malfoy's victory, let alone the rest of his team. Slowly she lifts her hand and places it in the Weasley's hand.

"Sorry." She says quickly and her eyebrows pull together, her team rather quiet for a moment.

"Hey! Perk up, it was fun even if we didn't win." Diana says wrapping her arms around Ron and Finn's shoulders, her black eye swelling more with each minute that passes, Finn's nose was bloody and dripping over his lips, and Vance had something happening with his mouth, be it a bit tongue or something with his teeth, but there was blood on the creases of his lips, besides those three casualties everyone got away from the game with no wounds. Nina's eyes drift over to the other team, most of them had bruises on their faces, arms and they all looked dirty, seems that her team was more comfortable throwing punches than the others.

Nina stood with her friends as they brought up a new topic, all of them heading for the stands so they could watch the next games, she follows behind, her mind unable to focus correctly, Malfoy always pushes her away and becomes horrid and mean, but every now and then he managed to show her something wonderful.

Merlin help her, this back and forth was going to be the end of her.


	12. Order

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nina prepares for her new year of school, she does her best to stay calm and she begins to notice something off with her friend. Nina tries to keep her head but her dreams make it hard, so she takes a walk.  
> (Kinda a filler)

 

Two weeks had passed since Nina and Harry had been transported to the dark and dusty home. When Nina had first entered she threw half the residents into a state of utmost horror. Mrs Weasley was the first to act, grabbing a cloth and wiping dried blood from Nina's lip, exposing how much damage had actually been done. Hermione was there next, her hearing the commotion of three men, a horrified mother and the voice of a friend, next Nina was surrounded by most of the Weasley family,  the kitchen was big and filled with artificial light, but not big enough for all the people who ended up in the room.

“My dear what happened?” Molly sits Nina down and tilts her chin from side to side as she cleans up the blood that covers Nina's chest.

“I was thrown from my saddle when a hound spooked my ride. I ended up hitting my face on wood, I didn't get a chance to clean before my mother sent me away.” Nina lied and to hide the dead giveaway that shone in her eyes, she gave a big grin that caused her eyes to close.

“We're in the clear Mrs Weasley.” One of the smaller figures speaks as they enter the room, removing their hood to show a very curly redhead, with their hair pulled back into a small ponytail.

“Thomas!” Nina's smile becomes genuine as she stands, pushing past the Weasley's her arms stretch to out wrapping around the older wizards ribs.

“Nina.” Thomas says softly, his shoulders tense as he becomes quite uncomfortable as his head turns and he does his best to avoid eye contact, but the green eyes meet the grey and he give her a quick smile.

“I feel like it's been years.” Nina said as she released Thomas and he gave a quick nod, he was obviously not in the mood to talk and with all the people in the room he must be all but breaking down inside. As Nina stepped back she could see the two larger figures approaching through the door, lowering their hoods to reveal the men beneath. There stood Alex and Archibald, the two other men responsible for Nina's ‘safety’.

“Are you alright?” Alex asks as he embraces Nina, his voice strained with the question.

“Of course I am.” she said relaxing in her friends embrace, but he quickly let her go and grabbed Thomas by the shoulder gently.

“And you?” Alex asked with an affection that caused Nina to turn red.

“Don’t treat me like a child, I am just a bit ill due to how much blood there is.” As Thomas says this she does notice that he looks more pale than she was use to, he was almost as green as his eyes. From the doorway a man cleared his throat, Archibald looked rather stiff and uncomfortable as his eyes shift between the two boys who were getting closer to one another.

“Nina, how are you holding up?” Archibald asks as he then ignores his son entirely.

“Yeah, it’s just a little scratch. It might scar but it will at least give me character.” Nina says as he reaches out and ruffles her hair, Nina would bet anything that there was giant's blood somewhere in their bloodline, but they were proven pureblood wizards so that was more than unlikely.

•◆•

Days had gone by since Nina had arrived at Grimmauld place, and it would seem she had left her her poise and hygiene back at the Volkov manor.

She had started by neglecting her hair, letting the curls tangled easily becoming more wild than Hermione's hair, the  way she decided to deal with it by putting her hair in a bun; So she didn't actually deal with it.

Next to go was her choice for clothing, normally Nina would wear something with an attractive appeal to it, be it a formal outfit or casual attire, but as soon as her mother appeared at the door with her clothes for the rest of the summer, Nina took the case and pushed it far under her bed and didn't look back. Since then she had been wearing pair of brown drawstring pants that loosely fit, and a large sweater that she had borrowed from one of the twins, their shoulders were much larger so she would have to pull the shoulder up consistently; fact is she didn't care.

Nina hadn't been told much about why she was there, and when she would ask Mrs Weasley would send her to do some chore; usually sweeping. Sweeping was something Nina had been asked to do frequently and usually Harry would also be sent to help her, while Hermione a would wash glass panes on cabinets and Ron would do dishes. It was true the grumpy house elf could have done it, and magic could have been used, but the reason they were asked to do this was to keep the children occupied and out of the others hair.

Nina stood at one end of the hall while Harry stood at the other, both with a broom in hand and sweeping the large dust piles that seemed to grow overnight into the center of the hall. The two had been spending a lot of time together, Harry was having nightmares that would wake him with a cold sweat, while Nina was having dreams, odd dreams. None of Nina's dreams were the same, but they had aspects that were related such as two brunettes, a child, and two blondes. Her dreams were always at one place that was very familiar yet she could only draw blanks when it came to remembering where it was. The dreams were so vivid, so real but clouded by a sinister haze. As soon as the dreams would begin a feeling would fill her entire being, the feeling would be her stomach tightening and it would become more intense as time would pass, it felt as if someone had wrapped their fingers around the vital organ and had begun to twist, digging their nails into the flesh. As intense as the feeling would get, she wasn't sure if it actually hurt or if it was just an unsettling feeling.

As far as Nina could tell the dreams were always from the same perspective, she only made this guess since they seemed to repeat every day actions in one way or another, usually they would be reading, she could only see the page before them, the reader seemed to have picked a rather smutty romance novel with more male ideals than female; like large breasts, and having the male protagonist be followed by women left and right. Sometimes the person would pace, or stare out across the familiar house grounds, her favorite hobby of theirs was the piano. The person would sometimes just lean over the keys and tap a couple just to hear the noise, other times they would play a melody or two, the songs were always haunting as their skeleton fingers ghost gracefully across the pale ivories.

“Have your dreams gotten better?” Nina asks breaking the silence her weighing thoughts.

“Have yours.” He answered her question with a question.

“Well have they changed?” Nina leans on her broom.

“And what if they had? It's not like you could do anything to help.” He turned from her and she responded with a scoff.

“I don't know why you're being so snappy, I just want to help. And if you've forgotten, they haven't told me anything either so lay off!” it was true, none of the adults had told Nina anything about the order, and so she was in the same boat as Harry. Nina turns and  enters the the first room that she saw, her broom in hand leaving the hall for her moody friend to finish. As she entered she shut the door behind her, a disgruntled huff leaving her lungs as she began to sweep the heavily dusty room. As she opened her eyes she began to see floral designs on matching chairs, a small table, and behind a couch was a cabinet filled with glass tableware, Nina pushed off the wall and turned as she entered the room. As her grey eyes examined the room she came to an halt, a family tree extending over an entire wall and a half was beautifully displayed before her, faces of the Black family and their ancestors. The faces moved, their eyes blinking and heads tilting, some smiled, some scowled, and some seemed to watch her intently, while the leaves that decorated the branches moved with the breeze from outside.

Moments turned to hours, Nina had pulled an armless chair to the room, sitting on it backwards and looking over the tree, until her eyes began to droop and her head became heavy. Her head rested upon her folded arms, her eyes blinking slowly as her eyes slide across the paint for the millionth time, and just like each time before, her eyes land upon the blonde hair and grey eyes of the Malfoy heir.

“Draco you idiot.” She whispers softly as her eyes close.

“I see you found the family tree.” The voice startles her, and Nina sat up slowly.

“Sirius! Sorry, I dozed off.” Nina says shaking her head of the sleep that still clouded her mind. Sirius stood in the door looking at her and then to the tree on the wall.

“It's alright, I saw you earlier and you looked deep in thought.” The older man with shaggy hair walked deeper in the room.

“You know, many years ago your mother and I stood in here together. We were very young, and she too found this tree quite fascinating. She sat here all night watching the leaves shake and the faces move.” Sirius said as his fingers slide down the center of the diagonal branch. “I'm sure you're mother would maim me just for mentioning it, but I've heard whispers of your… situation with my nephew.” He turns to her and she watches him.

“Sorry?” Nina truly didn't understand what he was talking about, she watches as his hand moves to the wall behind him and taps on a particular face.

“Draco, I heard you fancy him.” He turns his back to her and his hands fold behind his back.

“There is no way Malfoy and I would ever fancy each other.” She said it with a genuine tone, as much as she disliked the thought of the two of them together, there was a very slim chance they would ever end up together.

“I said the very same thing to Harry's father... about your mother.” Sirius turns to Nina and she snorts at his joke.

“You aren't joking?” Her amusement died as he just looked at her with a sorrowful gaze.

“Your mother and I had admired one another from afar, she was talented and quite funny if you took the time and listened. Played a few tricks on people she didn't like, she knew every inch of hogwarts, many of its secrets. But when I ran away from home, my mother disowned me, and I lost everything to my name. Your mother was then forbidden to even look at me again and as every wound does… she healed and met your father in fact. Alik was an interesting one for sure, for a Slytherin at least.” Nina could hear the jealousy in his voice as he spoke and Nina rubbed her arm uncomfortably.

“I'm sorry it didn't work out between you and my mother.” Nina wasn't quite happy with hearing about her parents while they grew up, she could never see them as students let alone children, not with how they hold themselves around her.

“No no, if it worked out then you wouldn't be here. And my godson wouldn't have such a brave witch to befriend.” Sirius rests his hand on her shoulder and overlooks her features. “Don't worry about your family, your mother is strong, even if she doesn't show it.” Sirius smiles before turning and walking towards the door, he stops halfway and turned around, leaving Nina to her thoughts.

•◆•

Standing she makes her way down the stairs to where Molly Weasley stands near a stove and cooking a large meal for her family plus three.  
"Mrs Wesley… do you have a file? I have broken my nail and it-" Turning around molly smiles holding out her hand.   
"Let me see dearie" She says smiling happily and Nina gingerly places her hand in the caring woman's trustingly. Molly whispers a spell and instead helping her file it down she fixes the nail, saving a whole bunch of irritation and waiting for them to grow again.   
"Go tell the boys to wash for supper, and you do the same for yourself. The girls will soon follow" She says gently and Nina does as she says, walking up the stairs of Grimmauld. The unsettled feeling washing over her as she passes the old house elves that stood in display cases, their eyes dried out and black yet seem to follow her as she walks up the stairs. She hears a bickering from upstairs Ron and Hermione, at it again. She sighs and follows the sounds until she is standing at the door of the fighting teens.   
"you know we can't! Dumbledore forbade it!" She speaks angrily trying and failing to be quiet before spotting Nina at the door, and shutting her mouth becoming silent.   
"Supper will be ready soon. You need to wash up" She speaks softly and leaves her friends standing in the quiet room. She continues down the hall to Ginny where she sits and waits, Harry was set to be picked up by a group put together by Dumbledore, tomorrow evening. Walking in she sits next to the younger girl and places her hand upon her leg reassuringly.   
"Stop worrying so much, they will be fine. By tomorrow at supper he will be here and you two can kiss the night away~" Nina teases hoping to bring some light to the girl. "Your mother said to wash up, supper will be ready momentarily." She repeats herself once more to get the point across, she pats her leg before standing and wrapping her arms around her body and leaving the room, it was chilly and there was an odd breeze, but she continued down the hall, down to dinner.

•◆•

Harry had gone to his hearing and everyone except Mr Weasley had to stay back. Nina had felt too cooped up in the house, so she got dressed and tied her hair up into a very thick french braid, dressing in white jeans and a loose off the shoulder shirt. She stepped into the fireplace and to diagonally she went. She wondered around and gradually as the day went by, she gathered supplies that she thought she would need. She bought a phoenix feather quill that shone gold when light hit it just right, she also bought gold, black and teal ink, just in case she felt like writing with fancy ink, as well as loose parchment and a white leather bound journal with an elegant black belt and buckle holding it closed. Her other purchases included a chocolate and raspberry ice cream, treats for Barron, a few types of tea, and a bag of dragon pop crisps. She sat down at a restaurant patio, watching people walk by, the school rush would start soon but right now it was calm.

She ordered a chicken caesar sandwich with rosemary and parmesan, her eyes narrowing with disgust as she reads the latest daily prophet. Every page was littered with false claims to Harry and Dumbledore’s “lies.”

Holding the paper between her crossed legs and a free hand, she begins to kick her foot in agitation. Who had the right to say that Harry was lying, He was the boy who lived for crying out loud.

“Im telling you, it's Dumbledore making him say it!” an old man with large bunches of hair sticking out of his ears whispers to another man across from him. Nina slightly tilts her head up, her eyes on the back of one of the man's heads, her eyebrow raised.

“No no! It's the boy, his fame has been dying down recently. He needed something to bring it back!” Once again Nina finds her brain cells dying with each passing moment of their conversation. These people were creating more problems for someone they don't even know, not only were they believing the stories that were fabricated, but they are twisting and weaving lies of their own. Her began to wiggle her foot out of anger, her stomach churning in response.

Folding her paper she uncrosses her legs and stands, leaving a tip on the table and knocking back the rest of her chilled water, slinging her shopping bags over her shoulder and picking the quarter sandwich off it's plate finishing it while strutting down the street.

“That's quite a temper,” the voice chilled her spine and caused her teeth to grit. “Where'd you get it from? A goblin?” Malfoy cooed as he circled around her, standing in front of her and blocking her path.

“The only goblin here is you, Malfoy.” She said crossing her arms in defense.

“oh come now. Mother and I are getting my robes fitted again. You see I've gotten taller.” He smiled triumphantly as he pulled at the flaps of his blaser.

“That's great, at this rate you may grow into your beak of a nose.” She game him a malicious smile as his hand flew to his nose, he relaxed and let his hand drop.

“How's your lip?” His voice had no emotion yet it had a tone of concern, he grabbed her chin and tilted her face examining where the cut had been. Something in her reacted and she slapped his hand and stepped back, she didn't know what she was doing before it happened. His concern quickly disappeared, he started to become mean, stepping towards her, trying to intimidate her, it worked and he grinned from ear to ear as she swallowed hard and reverted her gaze for a moment, before returning eye contact.

“That's what I thought,” He hissed, she half expected his tongue to snake out of his mouth and flick around. He stood tall and his shoulders cracked as he pushed them back, taking a stance of empowerment. Running his left hand through his hair and snorting as he stared at something down the street, and after a moment she was watching his back as he walked down the street, his nose high in a very conceited manner. Down the street he saw him meet up with a woman who could only be his mother, her extravagant robes and brilliant ash hair couldn't be mistaken for anyone else. Draco leaned down and whispered something to his mother, Nina knew this because she could see his thin lips moving, and her look that followed was one of searching the street. Nina turned and walked down the street in the opposite direction. It was a beautiful day and the sun was high in the sky by this time, Nina had left quite early so she had a good amount of time out of that dusty home.

•◆•

Nina found herself quite cold, not because of the cool air that drifted through the house, not because of the whispers that drifted through the cracks in the floor, and not because of the missing company in the room. She was cold because of the glass of ice next to her bed, one which every couple of minutes she would pick up and place it to her lips, tilt her head back and wait for a piece that would fit in her mouth comfortably, the she would proceed to chew on it, the crunching echoing through the room as she sits at the window, the thick warm summer breeze. The city was far different at sunset, Nina was used to seeing the whole sky as the sun set, every colour, every detail. In the city you only saw the colours in the clouds, and you couldn't see the horizon. The shadows on the building and the surreal lighting around the room enchanted her. She could hear a soft tune coming from the radio downstairs, mixed with the sound and smell of heavily seasoned food being made.

‘ _This is nice_ ’ She thought to herself as she slipped her feet out from under her with a grunt as she shifted her stiff ankles and they cracked as she got on her feet. A long stretch and a skip down the stairs later, she found herself in a game of cards with Ginny and the twins, the twins were cheating, so Nina didn't find any shame in batting her eyes and distracting them while shifting her cards around, she of course gave a wink to Ginny to do the same but she wasn't always successful. Then they ate and she helped with the dishes, and not long after she found herself staring at the ceiling in the dark, beneath her blanket on the creaky wooden bed. She was thinking. About what? A lot of things, like why was the moon so bright in her room, what was happening at the school, why was Ron snoring so loud, and many other things. But one of the biggest problems was why she didn't feel sleepy, she just felt awake, like she needed to do something just for the sake of doing it, but while she laid there something felt off. She shrugged it off rather quickly as nothing more than being excited for school, it was only a little while away, so it was normal to be feeling this way.

•◆•

Nina had arrived to the platform to see Rilkey and Sanpy with her things, the two house elves looked smaller than normal, soon after she took her things they were gone. By the time the platform began to fill, Nina had been sitting in a compartment for quite some time, tapping her foot rapidly as she waited. She was anxious for some reason, her arms kept wrapping around her just to drop and tap her knees, she was fidgeting and couldn't stop for the life of her. She sat alone and ran her fingers through her long hair, and looked out over the platform where people were hugging their families goodbye, she could see Vance towering over the crowed with Diana’s golden hair peeking just next to him. A sound catches her attention and she spins around, Malfoy stands on the other side of the door, his curled fingers hover just an inch away from the glass; his family ring glitters in the early morning light. His cold eyes show the emotion that his stony features do not, the black of his suit enhance his pale face. His eyebrows flex and he shakes his head slightly, a gesture asking permission to enter. She sucks in her lip for a minute before nodding, the last thing she wanted to do was fight with him, but considering he was alone and he hadn't let himself in showed he felt the same. Slowly his thin fingers slid the door open and he stepped in, she immediately coughed and waves her hand in front of her face.

“Go easy on the perfume next time.” she says half laughing and he snickers as he sits across from her, his long legs needing a lot of room to be comfortable.

“Yeah yeah whatever, Volkov. Perhaps you should try showering, you smell like an antique.” He looks out the window before letting his eyes land on her. “Where’s your _friends?_ ” His voice is filled with amusement as he watches her with a playful gaze.

“Saying goodbye to their families, greeting people, avoiding you.” she said it in a dull tone.

“Tsk Tsk,” He let his eyes wander the room, she wouldn't be surprised if frost didn't start forming on the wall where his eyes met. “perhaps I should leave before they get here.” He pushes himself to his feet with ease, pulling his wand from his pocket. Instinctively she rushes for hers. “Relax, I'm not going to attack you.” He pulls a red wrapped candy from his pocket, he places it in his hand and without a word he taps the candy, the wrapper unfolds and the candy shatters just to reassemble as a red bunny, it's nose twitching. He holds his hand out to her and when she doesn't comply her grabs her hand and the bunny hops into her hand. She just stares at it, her brows pulling together. The long black wood of his wand presses just under her chin, the cold wood pushing her chin up so she is looking at him. “smile, we aren't home anymore. We are going to school, if you don't smile people will know something is up. Remember, we don't show weakness. Some of us just happen look good while doing it.” He says with a grin before hiding his wand and leaving, soon Diana and Vance enter the room smiling, shortly after Finn is laying across her lap snoring, a pool of drool pooling into a cloth on her leg.

“He obviously didn't fix his sleep schedule.” Diana says kicking his hanging foot with a long toned leg.

“What gave it away” Nina replied, running her fingers through Finn’s sandy hair.

“I don't blame him, the summer has been stressful for everyone. Mum didn't want me coming back this year, father only let me because he knew my friends needed me,” He gives a sad smile “mum was furious.” Vance ruffles his hair. The clock strikes and the train slowly begins to move.

“We've gotta stick together this year. More than ever.” Diana’s voice had become more powerful, less feminine and each word was heavy with her emotions.

A few hours had passed and Finn woke up, it was lunch and he was hungry, he pulled full meal out of his bag, his mother packed food for all of them.

“you'll have to thank your mother for us,” Nina says consuming the food, she had forgotten the food Mrs Weasley made back at the house, and was quite thankful for her luck. “I'll be right back, I'm gonna go get something to drink,” Nina says standing and grabbing her coin purse from her bag.

“Pumpkin juice.” The answer was the same all around, so Nina stepped out and shut the door behind her. She moves between the chatting people on the train, looking for the trolley.

“Volkov~” a large form blocks her path and she stops walking. Standing before her is Jonathan "Thane" Hoyorn, a bulky brain dead Slytherin who somehow managed to keep up his hygiene.

“Hoyorn.” Nina says trying to sidestep him, he blocks her again.

“Good summer?” He asks and she nods, her lips pressing together as she makes it obvious that she would like to be left alone. “I'm glad, so I was wondering if you'd like to go to hogsmeade with me. The first trip I mean.” He grins and she sighs heavily, Hoyorn was known for pestering girls into going places with him, Nina didn't want to give him the satisfaction but it was probably the only way to get rid of him. His dark hair was greasy, it was always greasy.

“We will have to see now won't we.” Nina side steps again and he grabs her waist, she pushes his hands away and steps out of reach.

“Come on, it'll be fun.” He asks again and she shakes her head.

“If my short answers didn't get the point across then your last action just blew it.” As she says this he reaches out again, she steps back and inhales sharply as she feels a hand on her hip and a strong arm against her back, she turns her head to see the tall figure who's holding her in place.

“Hoyorn, I take it you had a good summer. Might I suggest you leave her alone before I turn your nose inside out.” Malfoy sneers and Hoyorn sneers back before pushing past him, Draco flicks his hand and Hoyorn landed on his face. Nina gasped as Draco led her down the corridor.

“You just did wandless magic!” She said excitedly.

“Mhmm, so what?” He kept his eyes forward.

“So what?! This is something you should be bragging about, that's huge.” Nina grabbed his arm and stopped him from walking.

“It's a simple hex, relax.” He leaned closer to her. They somehow ended up in the corridor by themselves, he levels his eyes with her.

“Draco, this is really big. It's really hard to do wandless magic, even if it's a simple hex.” His head drops and his shoulders go limp.

“Say it again.” He pleads and she grabs his shoulders to steady him.

“What?”

“My name. Please. Say it again.” He could barely hold a sentence and she goes to speak.

“Draco! We are expected in the prefect compartment. Are you alright?” Parkinson just had to ruin the moment.

“I'll be right there.” He stands straight and turns around, walking towards Parkinson, leaving Nina standing there by herself.

“Anything from the trolley?” Nina jumps as she turns to see the familiar trolley woman.

“Oh, yes. Four pumpkin juice, and a chocolate frog please.” Nina then exchanged the money with treats and made her way back to the cabin, being stopped every now and then by people who want to say hi. Eventually she returns to find only Finn, and Harry had joined them.

“Where is everyone else?” Nina asked looking down the hall.

“Prefect meeting,” They both replied bitterly.

“oh well more for us!” Nina handed a bottle to each of the boys and sat down next to Harry.

“So, are you excited?” Nina asked happily as her friends both seem unresponsive. “Come on, really? We are going back, yes we still have a few hours but we should try to make the most of it.” Nina says smiling, but still nothing from her unwilling crowd.

•◆•  
Sitting in potions Nina sits next to Harry, with Hermione and Ron across from them, the Slytherins and Gryffindor students had all split down the middle, so the class was divided, if Hermione moved her head a certain way Nina got to stare at Malfoy as he seemed to work diligently.   
  
Today they were doing the drought of peace which she had been studying the steps a few weeks prior. She was about a three fourths of the way done, making sure to check back with the notes she had made for herself. She seemed to be having no problem with it, she was adding the last bit of powdered moonstone. Slowly sifting the powder into the purple liquid, watching the purple liquid turn grey. A bright smile covering her face due to the success, next she had sit and wait for it to turn orange, a lot of people had puzzled looks upon their faces as they seemed to have trouble with this potion.   
  
Being on the last ingredient, biting her lip as she slowly adds the powdered porcupine quills, this would make or break the potion. Turning off the heat the potion seems to turn white and she sits proudly as she puts her hand up and turns towards Professor Snape.   
"Professor I'm finished" She says contently, he walks over doubting her achievement considering her awful marks in previous years, but sure enough he peers over the white liquid with silver mist rising from the surface.   
"Well done Mrs Volkov… perhaps you could sprinkle your newly found knowledge upon your peers, who do not seem to understand how to follow instructions," He uses emphasis on the s in instructions to get his point across, as he looks across the class, who apparently were failing their first day back to potions. Turning in her chair she sees Malfoy's goons struggling as he sits and makes snide comments about others in the class, while his cauldron emits the same silvery vapor as hers. She was not dismissed she had to sit and wait, leaning on her right hand hand as her left hand taps the surface of the table as she hums a soft tune, while her nails tap a beat.  
  
•◆• 

Nina sits bitterly, wiggling her quill in her hand as the pink toad struts up and down the aisles between the desks. Umbridge was a plague upon the school and everyone could see it, even those who were benefiting from her arrival. Umbridge had been here no less than two weeks and already turned the school upside down, Harry had detention every day more students were being punished every day, it made the students scared and that seemed to be Umbridge's plan.

“Miss Volkov, might I ask you to please stop twiddling your pen and do the lesson you were assigned.” after every sentence she let out this nauseating giggle.

“Sorry professor, I find it extremely difficult to focus with you breathing down our necks.” Nina spoke quite pleasantly, but her words rung with hate.

“I don't see anyone else having an issue,” She motioned to the rest of the class as she stepped towards Nina's desk, she had Finn sitting next to her, his head ducked in a desperate attempt to not be noticed. “So if you would please,” She pointed to the parchment in front of her. “Your assignment.” something sinister laced in her words, Nina's lips pressed together as she turned her head back to the parchment on her desk, the beginners book to magic open just above the paper. Her hand gripping the quill, she could feel the woman's eyes digging through her skin and into her mind. She couldn't focus and Umbridge was only making it harder.

“Mrs Volkov, I'd like to see you after class.”  The scratching of quills halted throughout the class for a moment, everyone had stopped only to look up before returning to their work.

•◆• 

Nina now sat in the dragon's lair, pink covered every wall and the sound of many cats filled the air. Nina sat across from Umbridge, she watched as Umbridge destroyed her tea, adding spoonful after spoonful of pink sugar into her already cream filled cup.

“Now, Ms Volkov… As I understand it, you are use to things going your way, only natural with parents in such a high standing. But you must understand my sweet girl,” Umbridge sipped from her cup, her eyes narrowing as she places her tea down and stands. “You must learn that things aren't going to bend to your will. That you must do what you are told.” Umbridge was uncomfortably close to Nina now.

“Perhaps, Professor… You might want to take your own advice.” Once again Nina spoke as a lady but her words were backhanded. Umbridge's nostrils flared and Nina showed no hint of budging.

“I will see you tomorrow for detention, Ms Volkov. Get out.” Umbridge showed restraint in her actions as she returns to her chair, Nina quickly left the office, down the stairs and out of the DADA class.

It was going to be one awfully painful year.

 


End file.
